Hot date with Mommy

This is going to be about date night with your kid, but first a story.

So, one thing I remember quite vividly from my childhood is going on occasional “hot dates” with my Dad. We would go out somewhere just the two of us and hang out. I remember one time going up to the Boardwalk in Santa Cruz, and I found the coolest rock there. While we were driving back, we made a bet on what time we would get back. I said something like 1:37 and he said 1:30, something like that. Well, we were getting home, and he was going to be spot on. But then, he said, as the husband of the PTA president, it was his job to make sure the school was safe, so we needed to drive around the school a couple of times. We did that and got home at 1:33, so he declared as the holder of the rock, and I got to have the rock.

Why do I tell you that story?

Mostly because I think it’s a cool story, but partially so that you understand why I think having one-on-one time with a parent and kid is super important. In theory, we’re going out about once a month with one parent to one kid, and one Mimi to one kid (we do have 3 kids). So, this time I went out with Superman and had a jolly good time.

Here he shows off his artwork and his writing skills. He wrote his name under the sticker I put on it.

We ordered the oh so yummy and amazingly rich shot desserts……. Yeah, so I’m hypoglycemic, which basically means that too much sugar makes me act like I’m drunk. If I’d actually finished one, I would have been staggering like the best of them.

Superman wanted to take a picture. He’s my artistic one. It’s kind of amusing, he colors and colors and colors, but freaks out if he gets paint on his hand.

Afterward,s we went by Target and he got to pick out a toy, he got a Batman helicopter that shoots stuff.

Princess got to go to Chuck E Cheese with Daddy, and Batman got to go to Ikea and play around in there, and the Disney Store with Mimi. All around, this was a big success.

So, why have a date night with your kid?

Hi, this is Future Ticia 2020 here. I’ve been following variations on this plan since I first wrote this post 10 years ago. It has paid the dividends I wanted, and it continues to pay in relationship gold.

My teens talk to me. They talk to me about all sorts of stuff. They talk to their Dad and their Mimi because they know we like them.

The above examples were a more expensive event, but half the time, recently, it’s just going out with me to go grocery shopping and lunch at a fast food place.

It’s not exciting.

What is it?

Time.

Time is an amazing gift.

Time and the random events are the memories you talk about years later.

Today I drove to four different grocery stores to find sugar cubes for my daughter for an event she’s planning.

This became a whole thing when I joked she could just use mini marshmallows for the game and to put in the tea.

Now, it’s a whole joke.

It’s awesome.

Side rant, on the whole Daddy Daughter dates

I’ve seen a few people complain about them, blah blah blah patriarchy, or something. You want to hear my complaint?

What’s the cute name for mothers and sons? Or Moms and daughters?

It just doesn’t flow as well.

That’s my complaint, it doesn’t make for a cute hashtag on social media.

There aren’t many events designed for Moms to do things with their sons. There are Father/Son campouts, Daddy/Daughter dances, Mother/Daughter tea parties (I’m going to one tomorrow), but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a mother/son event.

Also, as I was looking for good pictures of a single parent spending time with a single kid (because I didn’t have any good pictures handy that weren’t like Disney World or something), I cam across this one, and thought it was ADORABLE (there was another cute one of a mother/daughter, but it didn’t fit any of the sizes I use, AND they annoyingly cropped out part of the mother’s head).

I also loved this picture, because I could totally see Princess and I doing something like this, making a weird face as we ate apples.

 

More on Parenting and Family Life

• Chores are fun and done
• Dealing with being judged as a parent
• Daddy Daughter Date Night: Scavenger Hunt
• Parenting in the Bible
• Chores and Responsibility
• Parenting Pinterest Board

 

Originally published September 10, 2009, but I had to smile at seeing my little Superman and this story as I read it 10 years later, and wanted to share it again.