Daddy Time

It has been a very busy five days let me tell you. Well my past five days was pretty busy, I was blessed very much, I got to spend a of time with my family this week. Katie's job shuts down for a week, and she was able to stay home with the boys and just enjoy life. I on the other hand still had to go to work, but the weekend was nice. We spent Saturday at Kennywood and today we went to the county fair, had a wonderful time as a family. 
I would like to talk about the saying "Daddy Time" begin a dad to two boys, I do not hear that term a lot, I'm sure I will later when they can both talk. This weekend begin going to Kennywood and the fair, I over heard a lot of young children asking their dad's to put them on their back, or race them down the walk way, or just push me in the stroller, or hold me in line. A lot of those lines came from my son as well, but he was not the only child saying those things, It made me think of "Daddy Time." Which then made me think, well what is "Daddy Time"? So through out the weekend I was thinking of the times that my son ask's just for me, or when he wants me to do some thing with him. A very big habit of my sons is to watch the movie cars and play with his toys "Cars" on my chair. Instead of watching the movie, he listens to it and has his toys live out the movie. He loves playing on my chair so much, it's hard some times to be able to sit down, but I found that instead of taking his playing area away, if I played with him, he was much happier. Just sitting there having him play on my lap, makes his day some times, it almost makes me feel like I am not around enough, but I realized thats not the case at all, he just loves begin able to play with me when ever, it's not that I am not there enough. This weekend also opened my eyes to other things that are small, but mean a lot to him. While troy and I were standing in line for the "Lil Phantom" ride in kiddie land there were acorns on the ground and like most three year olds, he got the bright idea to throw them at the kids on the ride as it past him. Of course, he got yelled at, but what I learned was, He was doing that out of boredom while waiting in line, and it's not like I was talking with anyone, I was just standing there, so instead of yelling at him countless times like other parents, I pick a few up and starting rolling them like dice on the ground in a small area, he had so much fun, not because of the rolling of acorns, but because I was playing with him. I wish more parents would of caught on, but maybe in time they will, I was able to go through the 40 min line, with only having to tell my child once to stop throwing acorns, not because he is better behaved than any other kid, but because I took the time and sat down next to him and played with him. Today as we were leaving the fair, Troy was pretty tired and in turn starting to cry, along with him baby brother. He wanted to race me to the car, but I was pretty tired and so was Katie and we really didn't feel like running all the way to the car, but whenever we got about 5 cars away I said go and we raced, he had so much fun racing to the car, until he didnt win, but all it took was Katie and I to take a few seconds to be a kid again. Everything is a game to Troy, if I ease up and relax I think begin a dad will be a lot more fun than it already is.
If you have kids I want you to try some thing for me, instead of trying to correct them on everything, try playing with them just for a few seconds while your trying to have that conversation with some one you ran into at the fair, or in the car ride home when it's dark try singing along with the radio, even if you don't know the words, maybe "dance" a little in your seat, as Troy likes to say. Just have fun, family outings are stressful, everyone knows that, between meeting up times and waiting in line times, and potty breaks, and so on and so on, you know what I am talking about. Take the time to play and enjoy your family. Nothing needs to be done, (except for potty breaks), just enjoy the time you have, ask them how their day is going while your in line, try talking to them more, you would be surprised what they talk to you about. In closing, I pray that all of you get the time this year to spend time with your family, and enjoy it all, as stress free as possible.


May God bless you in all that you do today,
Eric