A great way to spend one-on-one time with your child is to create family traditions.
Create Family Traditions:
Some of the most memorable things many adults have about their childhood are family traditions. The traditions can be silly or serious, but either way, they represent consistency, love, comfort, and security. Many times traditions affect us so much that we continue the same rituals with our own families. You may or may not have great family traditions with your children already. Regardless, this is a great date idea to create ways for you, your child, and your whole family to make new memories by spending quality time together.
For this date, sit down and come up with a list of traditions you want to put in place this year. You might have some that are specific to you and your child with whom you are on the date and others that are for everyone in the family. You can focus on the holidays and traditions surrounding them, or you could come up with a list of traditions for each month. If you already have set traditions in your family, I would challenge you to create brand new ones for this activity. Some of the traditions you create could be simple things that you do each year; some could be involved, and some anywhere in between. Write them down somewhere that will remind you of them as they come up, such as your calendar, etc.
Here are some ideas to get you started –
The 15th of any month is movie night
First Friday and Saturday night in October is camping
Make homemade ice cream on the first day of summer
Baseball game on the first-day school is out for the summer
Create your kids favorite birthday cookies, cake or pie on his or her birthday eve
The first day of the month, kids cook dinner and parents get a night off
Have a monthly date with your child on the 13th of each month
Fondue and board games on New Years Eve
Put a dinner bell in your house for a call to dinner
Have a professional picture of the two of you, or your entire family, taken on the first day of autumn.
Have ice cream together every full moon
P.S…Don’t forget to capture the traditions with pictures and videos!
WMTDS (What Makes This Date Special):
Research shows that traditions play a vital role in childhood, including children’s health and well-being. There’s something indescribable about what these moments mean to your family. A unique yet straightforward tradition can separate your family’s nightly dinner experience from the ordinary. Spend an evening with your child discussing some important traditions you can create in your family, and I promise this will be one of your best dates. Some of these traditions will stay the same, but others will evolve. Don’t forget to encourage them to create ideas! Don’t be surprised to see some of your more special traditions carry on to their children.
Create new traditions for your family during your time together
Teachable Moments:
Importance of family.
How unique and straightforward traditions can significantly impact your family.
You are making the most of what you have at the moment.
How important it can be to rely on and look forward to routines/schedules.
You are teaching your children the importance of family, mainly how it’s extraordinary that your family does things that others don’t. Most of the teachable moments here can’t be explained verbally but rather shown time and time again as you live out these traditions together.
Variations:
Make the traditions as memorable, unique, and meaningful to your child and family as possible.
Expense:
This should be a free date unless you choose otherwise.
Planning:
Planning is the whole date, but you don’t need to do any preparation before the date. Also, this can be a date that you decide to do at any time if you need one at the last minute. Planning new traditions is a perfect date for that cold winter evening when you don’t want to leave home. Make some homemade hot chocolate and sit down to create lifetime family memories or ones that just the two of you share.
Materials Needed:
Only as needed
Reference Websites:
Make every month more memorable
Amazon Resources:
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Alternatives:
#13 Build a toy model together
For a list of other ideas on how to spend one-on-one time with your child, see the full list here.
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