3 Reasons Why Parents Should Schedule Dates With Their Kids

It may sound a little creepy, but parents should schedule dates with their kids. With Princess gearing up for kindergarten, it seems like everything has been a bit crazy. Even though she’s excited about starting a new chapter, she’s still going to miss her friends from pre-k. She’s also going to miss being in the same building with O, who will be still at day care. So I wanted to spend some mommy daughter time with her to keep her spirits up.

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• Children need one on one time with their parents. My husband and I made a pact to spend quality time with the kids. This was especially important for Princess. She was just three-years-old when her little brother was born, so we wanted her to feel extra special. Now that they’re getting older, we try to carve out individual time each week.

• It’s a great way to know exactly how your child is feeling. After dropping off O, Princess and I attended kindergarten orientation followed by lunch at her favorite Dine In Family Restaurant. During our lunch she told me about how much she’ll miss being able to pick up her little brother after school. We also had a private conversation about other things she probably wouldn’t have mentioned under different circumstances.

• If you have multiple kids, having a date with each child is easier for you. Taking care of more than one child gets challenging, especially if they’re young. It’s so much easier to focus on spending time with one child at a time so that I can give my undivided attention. O is at the age where he’s extremely active. He’s talkative and likes to jump, climb, and have story time. Our dates consists of being very active. When it comes to Princess, she also enjoys reading. But she also loves going out for lunch, seeing a movie, making a video, or doing her nails. Our dates don’t involve as much physical activity.

So far, scheduling dates with our kids periodically has worked to our benefit. We get some much needed quality time with each child and they each get to have Mommy or Daddy all to themselves for a little while.

How often do you schedule dates with your kids?