88 Great Daddy-Daughter Dates {Book Review}

We are big on quality time in our house. Even though I stay home and hubby is home as much as he is able, we are human and tend to be a bit lazy. So we have scheduled several quality time items on our calendar including daughter-parent dates. While we have them scheduled on OUR calendars weekly, we usually end up getting one a month, which is far superior to not getting any all.

But what should we DO on our dates? Mine usually revolve around shopping and a treat. My hubby has a harder time. In the winter, it’s cold and neither of them like that. And he doesn’t shop. Obviously. Enter 88 Great Daddy-Daughter Dates: Fun, Easy & Creative Ways to Build Memories Together. I narrowed down the options to age and weather appropriateness and passed it to my husband. I heard the “Oh yeah! We haven’t done that in a long time!” and “Oh, that’s a good idea, too!”. Crisis averted :).

88 Great Daddy-Daughter Dates is aimed at girls from age 6-12 but I would say that you could use many of them for girls as young as 3 or 4. Each date consists of a short list of items needed, what to DO on the date, some things to talk about, and a short prayer at the end. Each idea is super short – 2 to 3 pages. Most of the ideas can be done without a lot of planning and there is a good mix of free/cheap/easy dates with those requiring a little more planning and/or money.

My hubby picked Puppy Love as his date. He took my daughter to the local pet store — she loved it even though the bird and fish selection was pretty small. Then he took her to the Toys R Us down the way and she picked out a “pony” to remember their date by. She loves it and carries it everywhere which is fascinating to me because she’s never really had an attachment to stuffed animals. Until her DADDY bought her one on a date, that is :).

Overall, I loved this book and look forward to it getting dog-eared and dirty. You can easily take the ideas in this book and use them as ideas for family fun days. I also like the items to talk about, because it’s important that God be familiar to them and neither my husband, nor I, grew up that way. It’s a great resource for ideas for spending quality time with your children and teaching them about God. Love, love, LOVE it!

88 Great Daddy-Daughter Dates is available March 2012 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

Do you do “dates” with your kids?