This tip brought to you by our Dad Guru John Valadez
on May 20, 2009
Time is the most precious gift a dad can give his children; and contrary to the Rolling Stones, time is not on our side. At least, as it pertains to spending time with children. In my last post I blogged about taking the kids for a wilderness excursion to stimulate interaction and dialogue. I’m going to raise the bar and challenge the dads out there to spend quality time with the kids. I’m not referencing a bed time story or wrestling around for 15 minutes – noble causes though and good intentions. The challenge is an entire Saturday. Can you handle it?
· 7:00 a.m. – Time to wake up.
· 7:10 a.m. - Make them breakfast. My favorite is French toast - eggs, milk and bread. Mmm
· 8:00 a.m. - Get them dressed, brush their teeth and you are out the door.
· 8:45 a.m. - An early morning bike ride is a great outing. It gets the blood going, warms up the legs and motivates the clan.
· 9:30 a.m. – Take a little break, you deserve it. I let them watch some cartoons, for an hour, after all it is Saturday.
· 10:30 a.m. – Time to go to the park. Depending on how far you live from the park you will either get in the car or walk or its back on the bikes. I would get in the car. Remember, it’s still morning and you are going to need the energy.
· 10:45 a.m. – Bring your camera to the park and make it a memory. Depending on the age of your kids and gender what you bring to the park will differ. Boys – football, ball and glove; Girls – bubbles, jump rope, sidewalk chalk for hopscotch or if it’s a nice enough day buy a kite. If the park is just a jungle gym and some swings, well, you know what to do.
· 12:00 p.m. – Lunchtime. No one is going to get upset if you take them to McDonald’s but, if you make a picnic basket you get mad props from the life tips dad!
· 1:15 p.m. – Mid-afternoon activities are always a challenge when planning out a day. If the weather is nice and you have a pool now is a great time. From 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. is usually the warmest part of the day and a perfect time for a swim. The kids can play in the pool and you can relax in and out if needed. My favorite pool games are pool basketball and ring diving. Ah, summer.
· 3:15 p.m. – After two hours in the pool a snack is in order. Lunchables are a good snack for the kiddies.
· 3:45 p.m. – Early summer blockbusters + kids = FUN! There is always a great movie out there for the family.
· 6:00 p.m. – After you get dressed and back and forth from the movies it will be after 6pm. Depending on what you ate at the movies everyone is going to be starved or full. Assuming you behaved and didn’t eat the hot dogs or nachos – fire up the grill! Hamburgers and hot dogs will really hit the spots right about now.
· 8:00 p.m. – Bedtime for the kids.
· 8:05 p.m. – Bedtime for Dad! Sleep late tomorrow, you ROCK!
Let me know how your day goes. Best of luck and enjoy. Thank you.
