Children are a treasure.
Being the father of both sons and daughters, I have found that there are some differences in bonding between genders. Namely, when my wife and I had our first daughter I struggled to bond with her with the ease I did with my son. I just didn’t know how, as at heart I was still a little boy myself.
Over time I realized that I was making it much harder than it needed to be. Boys and girls have their own interests, personalities and temperaments that have nothing to do with whether they are male or female. Appealing to those factors is much more effective than thinking of it in terms of whether to play dolls or baseball.
That being said, my daughters had some particular activities they loved when they were tweens. Those times with them are a shining memory of happiness and fun in my mind. So I wanted to share these four activities you can do with young girls (but you can do them with boys, too).
Tea Parties
It sounds cliche, but both of my girls loved tea parties. And I am not talking about the kind you have with stuffed animals around a tiny table in their bedroom...this is about their tween years, after all.Every few months, we would make a reservation at this little dessert cafe near our home and go for a real tea party. It was fun, delicious and a silly excuse to get all dressed up and stick our pinkies out when we drank.
Backyard Sports
One of my daughters is a huge soccer fan and has been playing since she was about four years old. The other isn’t interested in sports and would rather play video games. But both of them are equally as excited when we actually take the ball into the backyard for a bit of three on three with their parents and brothers.
Movie Mondays
Every Monday night we make or order pizza, settle down in the living room and watch a movie. This has become all the easier thanks to Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hulu, which means we are never short things to watch. We take turns on rotation picking the movie, keeping it interesting (that also means we don’t end up watching Frozen ten million times).
Saturday Swapmeets
My girls love the swapmeet, which is great because I do, too. This is an activity my wife doesn’t join us at, though sometimes my sons come along. Every Saturday we get up bright and early, have some breakfast and a chat, then go to the local swapmeets. Sometimes we buy something, usually we don’t. But we always have a lot of fun.
Quality time is the most important thing . Whatever you choose to do, spend some bonding time with your girls. You will never forget it.
From the mountains of Utah, Tyler Jacobson writes about his experiences as a father and husband. By sharing the struggles and solutions his family has faced, Tyler hopes to help other parents looking for a way to better their lives.