Date Your Kids!

One of the wonderful things our Pastors from Relate Church taught was to date. Date your spouse, date your kids. Just to make that time to really connect and have fun and make memories.

Jake and I take this very seriously in our family and we have it on the calendar monthly to go on dates. Some people wonder where to fit it in, who dates who, how is each of the 3 kids scheduled etc. So I thought I would share what we do.

On the 5th, Faith gets her date. We rotate each month between dating mom or dad. This also happens on the 10th for Sam, and the 20th for Nate. On the 15th and the 30th, Jake and I have a date (if we can get a sitter) :) On the 25th of the month, we do a family date. Hence, the calendar gets filled quickly!

We usually let the kids choose what they would like to do...but Chucky Cheese was the choice EVERY TIME! So we have moved Chucky as a family date option, and Jake and I have been coming up with other ideas for our dates with our kids.

We got a little behind on our dates, so this week we have been working on making up missed dates. Nate and I went to the pet store to look at and pet puppies. Nate goes NUTS when he sees the puppies. We then went and enjoyed a little play area at the mall that was just a great size for Nate to play in.

The other night Jake took Faith on their date. He gave her the princess treatment. He took her out to get her hair cut, her nails done and then he took her to a store to do some dress shopping. He let her pick out 12 dresses. He then had her pick 5 to try on, and she would be allowed to choose one to bring home. Well, she ended up bringing 2 dresses home, but well worth it! She is still raving about this date days later.

Here are some pics of Jake and Faith's date:

The Nails:


The Hair:


The Dresses!:


And of course, modeling for Daddy:


If you don't already have dating your kids and spouse as part of your routine, I suggest you start! It is such a great way to have that one on one connection with your kids and they are never too young to start. We have been dating Nate since he was teeny tiny. It's so fun seeing the kids get excited when it's their turn for a date. I really hope it is something my kids will enjoy for years to come and will do the same with their kids.