Whether you are a dad of one child or several children, you might find it difficult to balance family and career. In today’s fast-paced world the daily schedules tend to have more items on the agenda than hours in the day. Children need their fathers to be dads, not simply breadwinners. Here is a simple strategy useful in finding the delicate balance between professional father and admired daddy.
It might sound odd at first, but schedule an appointment with your kids. Setting aside special time with your children just as you would an important medical or business appointment helps ensure you will keep the date. Showing your children they are equally important to you as your other appointments is a great way of displaying the value you place on them. Providing a special time frame devoted to them shows they are special and goes much further than merely telling them they are. If an emergency situation should arise, explain it to your children and assure them you will add this missed time to the next scheduled appointment. Making a connection with your children will create a bond of trust and when life happens, they will be more likely to understand.
The next step involves ways to fill the time during this daddy date. Think about what interests your children possess. Center your focus on them. This is a time all about your children. If you are not certain what their interests are, just ask them what they would enjoy doing. Kids seldom refuse to voice their opinions on what they want in life so asking them may be the best starting point. If baseball or softball happens to be a popular hobby, a trip to a batting cage might hit a homerun for Dad. For avid readers, going to a local library or browsing at a nice bookstore might be the route to peruse. Show support of your theatre-lover by purchasing tickets and attending a show together. If budgeting is an issue in these hard economic times, hit a local park. Taking a walk or riding bikes is simple or you can even have your child teach you how to roller blade or skateboard. Performing a community service together by picking up trash, raking leaves or shoveling snow might be a way to connect and build character at the same time.
Special time need not be spent away from the home. There is a wonderful world in your own house and backyard. Stargazing is a free and fun way for creativity to flow. Reading a story to younger children is always a popular activity. Be sure to come down to their level. Get on the floor with your kids. Wrestle and play with them. No matter the age, all children need affection and love from their daddy.
For those dads with more than one child, try to provide appointments allowing each child an opportunity to enjoy their personal private time with dad. Maybe one day is a group appointment, but the other days each child is given a personal day with Dad. Make a calendar of these scheduled events in a highly visible area like the kitchen. It will serve as a reminder for everyone and the kids will enjoy counting down the days until their special time with Dad. Even if you only have 20 minutes a day at first, those 20 minutes will be more important to your children than you could ever imagine and before long you will find a way to turn those 20 minutes into an hour or more.