There is something special about one-on-one time with our kiddos. Whether it be snuggling in bed, working on a project, or in this case, a one-on-one date at Chick-fil-A, you get glimpses of their sweetness and revel at the fine little human you are raising.
For Valentine’s Day this year, we decided to give the boys dates with one of us. I had picked up these super cute gift cards from Chick-fil-A in Chanhassen. (Ok, so I had planned on putting these in the boy’s stockings at Christmastime, but forgot where I hid them!) There were two gift cards, a free cookie or ice cream for you, and the same for your special guest.
The Gift of Time campaign was meant to promote spending quality time together. Since we have been trying to focus more on connection and experiences, this was perfect for our family. It’s difficult to find intentional one-on-one time with our boys, especially since there are three of them and two of us.
We let each kid pick which parent they wanted to go on their date with. Listening to their reasoning was pretty cute: “Mom brings you guys to soccer and I always get to stay home with Dad, so I’m going to choose Mom” or “I get to snuggle with Mom every morning so I’m going to pick Dad”.
Before our dates, I printed out a list of questions we could use as conversation starters. There are a lot of lists out already out there, but you can definitely write your own. Stick with open-ended questions and you’ll get more interesting replies. Here are some fun ones that I found:
100 Questions to Build Your Kids EQ
101 Conversation Starters with Kids
The conversations we had gave us some insight into their perceptions, and a better understanding at how they see the world. It was also nice to see their humor and creativity!
Go and carve out that hour of time to give to your kiddo. You’ll enjoy bonding with that mature, thoughtful, and cool kid. (And if you’re lucky, your kiddo will not only get one, but two ice cream cones because someone mistakenly prepared too many for a different guest!)
