Seven Quick Ways to Show Your Kids You Love Being Their Dad by JB Scott
There's rarely any time in my life when I couldn't make the excuse of being too busy to spend time with my kids. There's always something going on. Even in a recent period of unemployment, when I was home with my boys for hours a day, it was still sometimes difficult to carve out time to spend with them. Now, this has nothing to do with not wanting to spend time with them, and there are times when they are busy with their friends as well. But I think daily interaction is important, so those times when there's not a big outing planned, I try to find some kind of fun face time with them. Here, in no necessary order, are some examples that all take an hour or less:

1) A trip to the store. Whether it be for food, clothes, tools or other materials, I make several runs to the store each week. It's a great time to talk, catch our favorite tunes in the car and check out our favorite departments at the store.

2) A quick walk, bike ride or swim. Exercise is always great, and making it fun with the kids is much better than doing it alone. My boys like to lift weights every now and then with me, too.

3) Cooking a meal together. My boys are pyromaniacs, so anytime we fire up the grill they are eager to help. They also have a knack for cooking, too, and have helped serve up some pretty good dishes. And since they have a sweet tooth, they've been known to bake a cake or two.

4) Work around the house. From yard work to painting and fixing things there's always some projects to complete. To see the look on their faces when they accomplish the feat? - priceless!

5) Watching a movie or their favorite TV show. Key word - "their!" It'd be easy to watch a game or crime drama with them, which is also valuable, but when it's their show and they are talking over the whole thing because they are so excited that you're watching it and they want you to know everything that's going on it quickly covers any disinterest you brought to the activity.

6) Building something. Lego stuff is awesome. Working it up to model cars and airplanes, then gardens and birdhouses, etc. I think you can actually see the wheels turning in their brains!

7) Talking and/or saying prayers together. The most awesome way to finish off a day, just sitting on their bed in the quiet of the night talking about it. It could be for five minutes. It could be for an hour. But it sure caps off my day!

And it's these types of things that are the foundation of the Journal of a Dad blog - realizing we can do this dad thing even if we think we're too busy! Hey, we have to go to the store, exercise, work around the house, etc. anyway, right? I love it when I can include the kids, and I think they do, too.
JB Scott is a father of five (two daughters, three sons), learning as he goes.

For more of JB's observations and experiences as a father, follow his blog at http://www.journalofadad.com.

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