Hand in hand, Daddy and daughter, explore the ice on a recent outing together. It’s Karis’ first time ice skating and she stumbles and trips many times, but Daddy’s strong arms are there to hold her up. The glee is all over her face as she holds on tight and learns how to glide across the ice rink. She’s been looking forward to this time for weeks.
A fun way to build relationship with your child is to schedule in regular date times out together. In our home, we plan monthly daddy/daughter dates for my husband to pamper and love on our daughter, Karis. He is just starting to take our two year old, Titus, out as well (mainly going on errand to Home Depot or riding escalators at the mall together). These are fun little events that our children love. There is nothing like going on a special date with Daddy or Mommy. I like to plan fun things to do around the house for special one on one time with each of my kiddos. Life is so short and these precious years are going fast. We want to build wonderful memories of sweet moments together while helping to guide and direct the hearts of our children. One on one time is so important for building a relationship of trust and open communication. In these younger years, there is not much heart to heart conversation happening, but that will come in time. Now is the time to show them they are truly loved and special.
Here are some other fun and frugal ideas that we have done. I keep my eyes open for Groupon, Living Social, or Google offers, and have found many great deals for plays, painting pottery, and local museums this way!
Hiking
Matinee
Visit a local museum or zoo
Ice cream
Coffee shop for hot chocolate
Paint pottery
Walk to the park
Have a picnic
Read books together at the library
Watch airplanes take off
Have a tea party
Paint fingernails
Bike ride (Daddy takes the kids in the bike trailer currently and they love it!)
Miniature golf
Ride the max/train/subway
Watch a play/ballet (local children’s theaters or high school productions offer a wide variety of productions, exposing the kids to the arts and having a fun date at the same time!)
Photo booth (these little booths at the mall have been the source of many fun date times with cute results!)
Ice skating
What ideas can you share for fun and frugal date outings with your kids?
are you sure he is not molesting her every time he frequent her to a date? White girls always have daddy issues, and its always because mommy trusted daddy so much that she let him take me fishing all the time by ourselves, and he molested me every time..Thats the story I always heard.
My husband has been taking our 11 year old daughter on dates every Friday night since she was 4 years old. All the hubby’s idea! They go miniture golf, bowling, pick up a movie on redbox or just have game night at home. She looks forward to it plus she wont let him forget! Precious!
yea, i bet she looks forward to it..Why dont he take you out every friday night instead? Answer that..Some fathers arre scums they prey on their own daughters.
Love these ideas! Now that I have two I miss the one-on-one time I use to have with my oldest, so I look especially forward to little “dates!”
We love taking our little ones on dates!
We usually go to the coffee shop for a “latte” (just steamed milk) or to the local bakery to bring back treats for everyone. When you have more than one child dates are a necessity!
My husband takes the oldest girls out on daddy dates regularly. They (3 yrs and 18 months) love to go to the store and get a pretty balloon, then go to the park or to get hot chocolate or a doughnut (gasp! mama’s not supposed to know!). Then, once in a while, Mama gets to go on a daddy date as well.
They’ve also: wandered around the mall or stores, ridden glass elevators, ridden escalators, ridden the free mechanical horse at the supermarket.
We do biannual over-night dates with our two boys and I have posted about them several times – the dates mean so much to our sons AND to us!! A great time to bond and just get to know them as people.
We’ve done skating, riding escalators, picnics, camping, “play ground tours”, special restaurants, movies, driving in an empty parking lot – mostly inexpensive/free things as my husband is back at school and we’re on a strict budget
We do many little dates with them throughout the year, but these “big” overnight dates are our favorite way of romancing their hearts.
We call daddy-son time “Man-Time” at our house. The two of them almost always find something very manly to do to exercise their masculinity!
I think that this is so important! Once my mom took me on a special girl date – we went to the mall and got a Cinnabon and then went to Claires. It was the only time I remember doing that, but I wished the whole rest of my childhood that we would do it again. Something about setting aside a specific time, even if it is a grocery trip, and making it into a “this is a time for me and you to be together – you’re so important to me” time… it’s priceless. Cinnabon STILL holds a really really special place in my heart because of that one outing. I’m pregnant with my first child, and I look forward to planning special times together with my little one!
Thank you for this post. It breaks my heart to think of how with our new baby (3 weeks) and my husband recently deployed that my 2 year old daughter doesn’t get as much of mommy as she did before. I love the idea of dates with her and spending some quality one-on-one time which is so important. At the end of everyday we talk about out day and go over points throughout the day that were fun and then we pray and thank God for the grace gifts and loving on us throughout the day. Some days I realize there hasn’t been anything we’ve done all day for my daughter. Nothing. We have run errands all day in the car, or spent the day hustling around from one place to another or even just a day full of chores at home. I remind myself how time is different to children and it’s so important to give them what they need to feel loved and special even when there are other children in the house. I pray I can show her God’s love through me by how I treat her and how I love her and using an undistracted, unhurried, undivided time to spend with just my sweet precious girl is exactly what her and I both need. God is honored in those moments we can give our all, wear our hearts out on our babies and outgrace them as we are outgraced every hour of every day!
This is so true. Thanks for the reminder. My hubby does construction and the other night he had my 4 year old come ‘help’ him get stuff from Home Depot. The grins that come back from those ‘date’ are far bigger than we get… even at Christmas. Kids want so bad to be involved, needed, and cherished.
It’s 10pm where I live, and my brain is pretty much fried by this time of day. But I have enjoyed reading the post and all the great ideas for the other commentators. Thank you.
I love cooking with all of my kids. They love helping me with all the aspects: Stirring mixes, ripping up lettuce, pressing the power button on the blender, rolling out dough, etc. They seem to open up about so many things when they (we) are relaxed in this environment.
Some of my favorite memories are my “dates” with my father. We would go out for personal pan pizza, play games at Chuck E. Cheese, or get chinese lo-mein. I learned a lot about my dad and also just I remember feeling so special. Thank you for this wonderful reminder. The days are long but the years are short.
This is a great list! My 5-year-old does cyclocross races with his Daddy in the fall (grown-ups pay to race, but the kiddie division is free). They train together throughout the summer, and it’s something special they both love. When it’s not cyclocross season, my husband takes my son to the free workshops at Lowe’s. They have great little projects for kids, and they are so nice there to boot.
Incidentally, I blogged about something similar over at reSPACEd. It’s about how to prepare for rainy days with the kids at home. Check it out, if you are interested in more ideas for things to do with kids. http://respacedpdx.blogspot.com/2011/10/get-organized-for-rainy-days-with-kids.html
Such great ideas here! I love the idea of anything outside–Baby Girl and I are both so much happier! The picnic idea is such a great one–and it’s a great time to invite friends along for a play date (although I think there definitely need to be picnics when it’s just you and your kiddos!).
Lindsey, Karis is just so beautiful. What fun they must have together! Awesome ideas and can’t wait to start doing these things with our son and baby on the way (still a little too young to understand and look forward
Love this! We keep our eyes our for free days at zoos and museums. Also library storytimes or Lowe’s kids building projects, etc. are a great opportunity for daddy dates!
Ashley, this is totally irrelevant, but I love your last name
!!
Oh yes, Home Depot also has those free building project days on the first Saturday of every month. When my boy gets a bit older that will be a great idea to add to the list!
I agree, dates with our kids are so important. It’s something that I need to make more time for.
Another thing about daddy/daughter dates is that girls that have their daddy’s attention like this on a regular basis do not go looking for male attention from their peers and tend to date less at a young age or get themselves into a bad situation. Daddy is consistently showing them what they are worth and the girls tend to have much better self esteem and common sense when they do begin to date.
Agreed! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for the great post! We’ve been doing this with our kids for a while. I was a wedding photographer for a few years so Saturdays were “Daddy Days” and he always planned fun things to do with them when I was shooting a wedding. Now that I’m home 24/7 we have to plan them a little more intentionally but the kids love it – my son loves going to Home Depot and building something with daddy or fixing up the house – my daughter loves going to the park to fly kites or ride bikes. It’s so important!! Love your post and your daughter is so cute!