Alone time.
[little note: today there will be giveaways! make sure to come back here for the Love 15 party!]
Kid dates don’t have to be extravagant or costly. When I went on a date with Emmett that’s probably the most money we’ve ever spent on a kid date…and it was under $15. The time to be just the two of you is what, I’ve found, my kids crave.
Just me. No cell phone. No other kids vying for my attention. No chores to do. No dinner to make. No computer to log onto.
Just us.
If you have more than one child you know that trying to just be with only one of your children can take some planning or some serious discussion with the other children about how they need to not bust in the door or how they’ll get to go in the car next time.
Emma wanted to read her new book to me that she got for Christmas. Just me and her on my bed. No one else to disturb her while she read aloud this book about a dog who figures out crimes…and he’s funny. She didn’t want me missing the jokes.
Planning dates takes some…well..planning! 🙂 Mike and I take each of the kids out every other month. One month he will take out two of the kids and I’ll take the other two. The next month, we’ll switch. That way each of our four kids are getting at least one of us and our undivided attention for 90 minutes straight each month (of course, there are little snippets of time through out the month that we have with each of our kids…a ride to the store, a discussion on our bed, waiting in the car for a sibling, etc. but this is special, set aside time).
It’s simple. But meaningful to each of our kids.
They guard their time and they make sure it happens.
No getting out of it. They want us to themselves.
And I love it.
what are your kid date ideas? I want to hear in the comments!
(And thanks to Miriam and Emmett for taking some great, quick pictures of Emma and me.)
xoxo,
Davina
**stay tuned! today is party day with fun giveaways as we get ready to launch Love 15! Make sure to come back here today!! I’m a flutter of nervousness and so excited for Love 15 to get here on February 2!!!!!
4 Comments
Just wanted to say that I appreciate all your very real, very do-able suggestions. The topic of kid dates always comes with a bunch of guilt for me, because while we pretty much give our entire lives to our kids as it is, with 4 kids, private time is a hard thing to schedule in, and I find it entirely disheartening to read about how people manage to do this weekly with every child. But the every other month, 90 minutes, is something I *can* do – hooray!
Hello Joy, I’m so glad to have been able to relieve some guilt for you! 🙂 I agree, private time is the hardest part to squeeze in. And when you think about it on paper, it looks so doable. When it comes to real life there’s something lost in translation. Every other month is working for us…I hope it works for you! 🙂
Ella and Jacob tried to have a “date” together but Ella cried because she wanted us all to go as a family, so her special time with Daddy turned into a family outing. We went to the tool store” better known as Lowes 🙂 It’s free and lots of fun stuff to look at for the kids and Jacob.
That’s too funny, Barbara! You get points for trying! It sounds like it ended up being a fun outing, though. 🙂