If you have a child who could use a little quality time with a parent or grandparent, but there just isn’t time, money or ability for a big outing, try one of these simple 15 minute dates!
In 2016, I wrote a post about doing 15 minute dates with your children.
This idea has been on my mind a lot in the last few years since we had a fourth child and my work ramped up and several of my children go to school and it’s felt increasingly difficult to have quality time with each of my children on a regular basis.
As they get older and more engrossed in their own activities,it’s vital for me to make an effort to spend quality time with each of them so that our bonds stay strong as they grow up.
While I love a bigger date time with my children, it’s just not that feasible most of the time.
A fifteen minute date is reasonable on a daily basis and is such good quality time for both them and me. Even when I’m the most busy, I can set aside 15 minutes and what we do doesn’t have to be anything elaborate.
These are ten of the activities that my girls love most during these quick little date times:
15 Minute Dates for quality time with your child
- Go for a walk around the block.Since we’re home more than usual right now, I’m often pretty stir-crazy by the time dinner is over and dying to stretch my legs. I’ll have one girl bring along their scooter or bike and we’ll do one or two turns around the block while Bart does the dishes and entertains the other girls at home.
- Run an errand together. As one of five children, I always liked going to the grocery store with my mom on my own and being able to have her undivided attention. Now, if I have a quick errand to run, I invite one of the girls to join me. They love helping me pick out a bunch of bananas or give a package to the post office clerk. And if we get a little treat at the checkout counter, no one complains about that either.
- Read a few picture books.We read a gazillion picture books around here, but there’s something special about doing it with just one of my girls. It’s a delight to let them pick whatever books they want and read it over and over if they want and not have to fight to sit on my lap or next to me.
- Play “Don’t Eat the Goldfish.”We’ve been playing this game for years and years and my girls never get tired of it. You can use any type of treat (I love Goldfish crackers because they’re not sticky and they don’t sugar my children up like crazy) and any paper. We made a little video below of how to play if you want to try it out!
- Color together. My girls LOVE to color and we have a whole stack of coloring books and various crayons, markers, gel pens, and colored pencils. Going into one of their rooms and quietly coloring together is a great way to have some fun conversations and it’s super relaxing for me, which is a bonus. I came out of our room a few weeks ago to find Bart and Tally carefully coloring together on the coffee table – coloring is for EVERYONE!
- Organize something. This might sound like a weird one, but my girls love helping with this sort of thing (when I was organizing my spice cupboard a week or so ago, all my children were swarming around begging to help!). They love a little responsibility and poking around in a drawer or cupboard or closet and seeing things that seem like treasures to them!
- Check on the garden.Our backyard garden has been a huge source of pleasure to all of us this summer, and my girls love a chance to go out with just me and check for things to pick, pull a few weeks, and water everything.
- Dance Party. What kid doesn’t like cranking up some favorite music (ahem, Moana songs) and dancing like crazy? And even better when your parent joins the fun. Let them act as DJ and show off your moves.
- Paint their nails. My girls will never say no to having their nails done, and if I let them paint MY nails, it’s even better.
- Photo Blast. The iPhone camera is a precious thing to my kids and if I let them go around the house for 3 minutes and take pictures of whatever they want, they love coming back and showing me each photo and describing exactly why they picked it. It’s great as an activity that involves me sitting on the couch and also it is so darling to see their view of the world. And they love having my undivided attention as they talk through their little mini photo album.
Bart’s favorite ways to spend quality time with the girls is showing them YouTube videos or playing “Drop the Point” which is basically just a fancy family name for trivia questions.
I’d love to hear how you fit in quality time with your kids in just a few minutes!
(And here’s a video of how to play Don’t Eat the Goldfish – obviously you can use any candy or snack you like!)
If you liked this post about 15 minute dates with your kids, you might like these posts too:
- Our Monthly Meetings with our girls
- One Parent/One Child trips
- Making Time for Adult Friends
