Daddy Dates
I enjoy taking on new projects. But when I do, I try hard to maintain balance in my life with my existing priorities. Sometimes I feel I'm doing a good job, and other times, I feel out of balance. Often when I feel most balanced, it's because I've taken a little extra care to write down most of the stuff I should be expected to remember.
For instance, I've gone through periods where I'll write down everything I intend to do in a given day or I'll make notes of when I've spent time with my wife or how much I weighed each week or what my goals are for the month.
Most recently, I've been writing down when I've taken each of my kids out on a private one-on-one date. I keep a note entitled "Daddy Dates" in a useful program called Evernote that syncs my notes among all of my electronic devices. I have 5 children (ages 11 - 3), and I can usually fit in about 2 daddy dates per week, so each of the kids can look forward to some alone time with me me in the not-too-distant future.
It's been very encouraging to me to see how much each of the kids talks about this time and looks forward to having it again. We usually do cheap stuff like a fast-food dinner and trip to the park--otherwise it would get cost-prohibitive to do these so frequently. But each kid--even the 3-yr-old--tells me often how they're looking forward to their turn to have their next daddy date. It's something I'm very glad to have undertaken, and I hope I'll keep it up for a long time to come.
This is especially true for my oldest daughter. I feel that these dates have given me a chance to really connect with her on a deeper level. She asks me poignant questions, and we get in deeper conversations about faith and politics and right and wrong. Raising children gives a unique sense of purpose to all of the time I spend studying such topics. I have someone who really wants to learn from me.
I've tried lots of things as a parent with varying degrees of success. So far, while it's a little early to say for sure (I've only been doing these for 3 months), I think the daddy dates are perhaps one of the best things I've implemented. And the secret weapon: writing them down. Simply keeping a log of each one creates kind of a "gamification" that constantly pushes me to get the next one on the calendar and keep it going.
If you have any ideas for a fun, cheap daddy date, please feel free to share.
For instance, I've gone through periods where I'll write down everything I intend to do in a given day or I'll make notes of when I've spent time with my wife or how much I weighed each week or what my goals are for the month.
Most recently, I've been writing down when I've taken each of my kids out on a private one-on-one date. I keep a note entitled "Daddy Dates" in a useful program called Evernote that syncs my notes among all of my electronic devices. I have 5 children (ages 11 - 3), and I can usually fit in about 2 daddy dates per week, so each of the kids can look forward to some alone time with me me in the not-too-distant future.
It's been very encouraging to me to see how much each of the kids talks about this time and looks forward to having it again. We usually do cheap stuff like a fast-food dinner and trip to the park--otherwise it would get cost-prohibitive to do these so frequently. But each kid--even the 3-yr-old--tells me often how they're looking forward to their turn to have their next daddy date. It's something I'm very glad to have undertaken, and I hope I'll keep it up for a long time to come.
This is especially true for my oldest daughter. I feel that these dates have given me a chance to really connect with her on a deeper level. She asks me poignant questions, and we get in deeper conversations about faith and politics and right and wrong. Raising children gives a unique sense of purpose to all of the time I spend studying such topics. I have someone who really wants to learn from me.
I've tried lots of things as a parent with varying degrees of success. So far, while it's a little early to say for sure (I've only been doing these for 3 months), I think the daddy dates are perhaps one of the best things I've implemented. And the secret weapon: writing them down. Simply keeping a log of each one creates kind of a "gamification" that constantly pushes me to get the next one on the calendar and keep it going.
If you have any ideas for a fun, cheap daddy date, please feel free to share.
My last GrandPa Granddaughter date with Angel was to take her to a Taylor Swift Concert! She love it! :)
ReplyDelete(And lest I forget, that one was compliments of you, thanks!)
But today (while you and Christine are in Canada) has been pretty busy: breakfast together, then the Dollar Store, then IKEA, then a cartoon movie, then Giant Ipad McDonalds, then Charity IKEA park, then pick up Andrew; and now we are back home!