Our society has so many distractions that it can actually be a challenge to ignore the emails, resist the urge to text message, or stay off our iPhone for carved out periods throughout the day. Regardless of age, our children need our undivided attention and the following ideas can help parents and children savor quality time without the interruption of technology. Use some of these day date ideas to fill your child’s love tank and help you to remember the meaning of true quality time with your little ones.
1. Take a walk in the park, at the beach, around the neighborhood, or hike a trail. Observe and show interest in what your child thinks is fascinating and beautiful.
2. Go to the zoo. Laugh at the monkeys, stand in awe at the alligators, watch the lions sleep in the shade. Buy some food at the petting zoo and let your child laugh when the goats lick your hands.
3. Go bowling. This active, but indoor activity is always fun. Take silly pictures wearing the bowling shoe rentals.
4. Plan a picnic. Pack a quilt, a blanket or a sheet. Leave the sandwiches at home and have desserts only as a special treat.
5. Find an orchard or a grove in your area and pick fruit. Wear old clothes, get messy, eat fruit right off the vine, tree or bush. Make a special recipe with the fruit when you get home and allow your children to help in the kitchen.
6. Work on your yard. Plant a garden, grow vegetables, prune your bushes, pick some weeds. Regardless of what you do outside, you are working together at beautifying your home and you are teaching your child responsibility and ownership.
7. Go see a movie. Buy popcorn. Let your child pick the movie and the seats in the theatre. Listen to your child laugh at the funny parts and hold their hand during the suspenseful parts.
8. Go to the store and buy ingredients for ice cream sundaes. Have a sundae party at home. Include all of the fixings such as the cherries, the sprinkles, the whip cream and the chocolate sauce. Serve them with hot chocolate or milk.
9. Take them to the library. Sit in the aisles and read them books, short stories or simply look at pictures that inspire your child. Let them lose themselves in books and do the same. Even if you don’t like to read.
10. Have a coffee date. Find a local coffee shop and buy them either hot chocolate, hot tea or a decaf coffee with lots of milk. Let them decide what they want to drink. Find a quiet spot and talk over your warm beverage. Ask questions about them and then listen.
11. Have a dance party. Download their choice of music on your device. Use wooden spoons as microphones. Turn up the music and let your children watch you let loose. They will enjoy it more than you know.
12. Go camping. Whether a real tent at a park, in your backyard or in your den; have a sleep over with your kids. Cook s’mores over an open fire, in your fireplace or over a candle. Tell scary stories. Cuddle close at bedtime.
13. Teach them an outside game that you used to play as a child. Capture the flag, freeze tag, or Marco Polo. Let them enjoy knowing something about your childhood that they can play too.
14. Teach them how to sell something. Make a lemonade stand, host a car wash, sell girl scout cookies. It teaches them how to work and allows them to appreciate the value of money. It also gives them an opportunity to have social interaction with people they don’t know.
15. Go somewhere fancy. Take them to high tea, see a play, eat at a restaurant that has formal white table clothes. Teach them their manners while making it fun and special.
16. Go visit a local place where you live that you have never been to. Maybe it is a tourist attraction, a crowded place you tend to avoid or a place that you have already deemed to be uneventful. Go see it and marvel at the wonder. Your kids don’t care where they spend time with you.
17. Play in the rain. Ditch the umbrellas, expect to get soaked and enjoy how freeing it is to jump in puddles. Let your children see you bask in the time when you didn’t care if you got wet in a storm.
18. Go see live music. Whether a big concert, an outdoor band in a park, or a quartet on a street corner; teach your children to appreciate the art of music. Expand their senses through exposing them to melodies and lyrics.
19. Show them acts of service. Visit a nursing home or work a food drive. Teach them that serving others is rewarding and selfless. Instill the value of thinking of others before themselves so they can teach that same mentality to their children.
20. Attend a sporting event. Maybe you have a minor league in your town or possibly, you are a lucky one with a major league where you live. Pick a team and cheer for them passionately. Allow your children to see that group activities are fun, even with game rules!
The list is actually quite endless when it comes to ideas for spending time with your children. Challenge yourself to put the technology aside during a date with your child so that they are your one and only priority. The time for us as parents to teach, mentor and savor their childhood is short. Enjoy them and have fun making memories!
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About Tracy Balderach
I am a wife and Momma of three little ones who just left our blessed, beautiful big city life in exchange for our blessed, beautiful suburban story 30 miles north of NYC. Sit down, savor the moment and join our bustling home. Let's laugh til we're dizzy, talk til we're hoarse and do it all over a good glass of wine.
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