Intro to Kid Dates

Shantel and I have been thinking a lot about how to best build strong relationships with our kids. We've always felt that "kid dates" are really important. Typically, up to this point, this has been really informal and occasional opportunities to have one on one time with the kids. However, because it is very informal, it also is somewhat infrequent. With our kids getting a little bit older, we decided we really wanted to have these be more frequent and intentional. We talked a lot about the best way to do this, and decided that we definitely needed more structure and formality to be consistent with having these kid dates. We also wanted flexibility knowing that things change from one month to the next. We decided that each child would get 6 dates a year (3 with mom and 3 with dad). So in a given month, one of us will take two kids on a date. To make it easy we'll do boys one month and girls the next and Shantel and I will rotate to get the chance to take each child 3 times during the year. The date does not have to be any specific time, just some time during the month. 

While we made the timing and schedule more formal to be consistent, the dates themselves will be very informal. For our 3 dates we will get a small ($1-$3), medium ($5-10) and large ($15-20) date with each child, about $30 per year for each of us per kids, or about $240 for the year. That comes out to about $20 a month, which we had to squeeze into our budget, but we know it will be worth it. On those dates we can do anything and it does not have to be big or long. It could be a 30 minute ice cream trip, we could go to a movie or we could go bowling. We can just choose anything that sounds fun with the focus on building/keeping strong relationships with each child. We are really excited for this going forward. 

For April, we decided to kick it off with a date for each child.  

I took Austin to a "candy store." It is actually really funny because I wanted to go to this fun candy store near our house, but just before we left discovered it had closed down. I quickly searched for another and found "candy paradise." Unfortunately, when we got there it was not at all what I had planned. It was a mexican candy store that mostly was focussed on giant bags of candy to fill pinatas instead of small candy items Austin could choose from. We wandered the store for a few minutes and Austin was thrilled. He found a couple of candy items he was excited about and we bought those and was so happy. It was such a good reminder, that again, it is not so much about what I plan as it is about giving the kids my undivided attention. We had a great time. 

Shantel took Lydia to the puppy barn to look at dogs on their date. 

Shantel also took Caleb out. (I also had Lucy for a May date and took her to the park for 15 minutes when I was picking up the mail one day). 

I'm so excited for this time with the kids.