A Monthly Parent-Child Day

By Dionie

For most of us, we try as much as possible to spend time with our kids. However, the demands of everyday be it work, chores, school and everything else, all of these connive to deprive us of our basic responsibility, and a fun one at that, to spend quality time with our loved ones.

It is with this reality that my spouse and I have decided to try, that once a month, we each take one child and spend a few hours or a whole day to spend quality time with. Activities, usually suggested by the child need not be costly, only that, the activity is fun to both of us.

The family of my daughter's best friend has been doing this for sometime now. When we learned about it, it really was a "we should try this" realization for us. We all know that our children grow up faster than we can accumulate memorable moments to reminisce and we'd be left only with the regret that we should have spent more time together with them when we had the chance.

Last April, as our first outing, I accompanied my son to a Scouting Weekend Camp. It was a very hot and humid day and my allergy really kept me from enjoying the activity as much as I would have. However, at the end of it, I could really see how much my son has gotten from it, much more me than what I can imagine, and seeing how proud he is that his dad was with him all the way through, the sacrifice is all worth it.

Activities made us skip the month of May. However, for June we made sure we'd get back to our "Parent-Child Day" early. So last Saturday, my daughter and I left early in the morning to go to the Brookside Gardens to take pictures of the flowers bathed by morning's rays and to visit the "Wings of Fancy" butterfly exhibit. Each armed with a capable camera, we took hundreds of pictures and shared to each other hoping that we'll have a picture or two to hang in our home and for my daughter's room.

The family joined together after and we capped the day with all of us going out to watch a movie. I would have to say, that was, a-really-one-fine-day.

In the couple of times we did this, it really made us (parents) much closer to our kids. We get to spend time for a one-on-one talk, to laugh and be with each other while at the same time, painting a memory all of us are going to remember for a very long, long time.

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