DATE DAY

While we didn’t plan it like this at first, Sunday ended up being date day for each of our 4 kids.   Each child ended up with some one on one time with either mom, dad, or Aunt Karen.  Good times had by all!

One of the duties of our church deacons is to unlock the church on Sunday mornings.  When Scott became a deacon 3 years ago, he started taking one child with him on his deacon duty mornings.  This served a dual or maybe even triple purpose.  1.  it got him some one on one time with one of the kids  2.  it allowed the kids to participate in serving the church alongside him  (rather than serving at church being something that took Daddy away from the fam) and 3.  it left me with one left kid to get ready for church Sunday morning.    The kids LOVE when it is their turn for deacon duty with Daddy.  They love unlocking their SS classrooms, turning on the lights, and turning on the heat in each room.  They also enjoy watching the worship team practice and probably most of all, they love having Daddy to themselves for a few hours on Sunday morning.    This Sunday it was our 4 year olds turn and her face lit up when Daddy asked her on her date.  (they also LOVE getting to ride in Daddy’s car and put the windows down!)

This Sunday after church Aunt Karen took our 6 year old out for a belated birthday date at the mall.   They went to lunch, went shopping for a new pair of earrings, and even got some dessert afterwards.  She was so excited the night before when Aunt Karen told her to wear something nice and they would go to the mall to pick out her birthday gift.  I was so excited that they were able to have some one on one time together.  I love that Aunt Karen wants to take an active role in my kids lives. 

Meanwhile…since we already had 2 cars at church, I took our oldest son out to Starbucks for a Mother/Son Cub Scout date.  He only had a few more requirements left to complete in order to earn his Wolf Badge.  These involved discussing a few hypothetical situations and how he would and should respond in each scenario.  I thought it might be more fun to complete the questions on a Starbucks date…things didn’t work out the evening I planned to go out with him and the banquet is next weekend, so Sunday afternoon was a must!   After our trip to Starbucks, we visited the library to pick out some more books for him to read.  A perfect afternoon date if you ask me!

Every Sunday evening is Daddy date time for our youngest.  I take the older three to evening church for catechism class.  Since I teach one of the classes, I stay there with them.  This affords Scott some rare one on one time with the lil guy.  Scott has always appreciated this time on Sunday evenings…. when I first started 4 years ago it was his Daddy/girl time while the oldest and I went to class.  He really does treasure a few hours on Sunday evening to play with the youngest of the crew while everyone else is away. 

We don’t have a set schedule for who gets one on one time with whom when.  It doesn’t happen on a set rotation each month.  (other than keeping track of who is up next for deacon duty) But, when we can we try to seize the opportunity for a little one on one time with each kid… to see their personalities apart from the rest, to listen to just them, and to foster our relationships with them as individuals.  This Sunday was a rare opportunity for each child to enjoy some time in the lime light.