take your kid out

This will be my final post for a while on making your kids feel special, not because there are only three ways, but because even my cyber attention span is short.

Take your kids out somewhere: out to eat, out for coffee (if they're not an already tightly wound 6-year old), out shopping for stuff they want.  I'm not saying you should take all of your kids out at once and leave your spouse at home, although he/she may like the sound of that.  Take them out as individuals, because they are individuals with unique personalities, ideas, and things they would like to talk to you about.

I did not like breakfast food much growing up, but there were few things I enjoyed more than every other Saturday morning when I was in middle school.  Why?  Because every other Saturday, I got to go to breakfast with my dad at the Cheshire Restaurant.  My brother Dan went on the other weeks. I would eat toast with jelly.  I don't remember ever getting anything else, because I wasn't into anything else by that point.  It wasn't the food that made it enjoyable.  It was spending time with my dad.  He'd listen to whatever I wanted to talk about, answer my many questions about life and the Bible, and tell me how special I was to him.

Take your kid out.  Taking your kid to work with you (so they can be additional/free labor), taking them shopping for school clothes that they do not like, and running errands with them doesn't really count for many kids.  Remember: what you see as quality time may not be considered the same by your child.  Just like what your spouse considers a nice evening out may not be the same thing you consider a nice evening out.  Cater to your kids when you take them out.  They're worth it.