Dating the kids

When I first became a mom, I was talking to my Aunt.  She has a great family of girls and they all have a close relationship.  I asked her what she thought made her family so close together and she told me about their date night situation.  They have 4 girls, so each kid got one week a month to go out with a parent one on one.  They did their FHE night on Sunday so their Mondays would be free.  Their dates were simple and easy, but she said the most important thing about it was that they could rely on their date night.  It didn't get shuffled aside and forgotten if things were busy that week.  She talked about how their dates brought them to conversations with their girls that they might not have had any other way.  I remember thinking that it was a great idea and something that I wanted to do with my family.  When we first tried it, Nate was a baby.  We also felt like we saw a lot of our kids and that we spent one on one time with them all the time anyway.  Things just fizzled.  I was reminded of it again a few months ago and the nagging feeling didn't go away that it was something that we should start up again, so we did.  We started having our FHE on Sunday nights.  It is so much easier to do it then anyway.  Monday was always so chaotic with piano, Allie's gymnastics, and the temptation to stay out late with the beautiful weather.  It always seemed to get shunted to the end of the day and rushed before a late bed time.  Now, I have more time to plan a lesson and we aren't rushing through it just to say we did it.
Jake is the first born, so he got the first date.  We flipped a coin to see if he'd go out with me or Mike.  Mike won the coin toss and they were off.  They got in the old car and headed out for a cruise.  They came home with smiles and ice cream on their faces.
Allie was next.  She wanted to see the new Cinderella movie.  It was well out of the 3 dollar budget, but she said she'd do free dates for a long time if she could see the movie.  We went on a Saturday instead of the Monday night and it was so much fun.  We liked the movie, but more importantly, we had great conversations in the car on the way there and back.  Allie wanted to know about how Mike and I met.  We talked about the apartment that he lived in, and I drove her past his place, and the place I lived.  We had a great time.
Nate's date with Mike was next, and he had been dreaming of it since Jake got his date.  They played the x-box and Nate was introduced to Donkey Kong.
I took Jason the next week and we walked around the block.  He was fresh from the bath and in his cute monster jammies.  He took off running, and for the first time, I didn't stop him.  I just kept up and let him go wherever he wanted to go.  It literally took us an hour and a half to go around our neighborhood circle once.  He stopped to chat with neighbors, pet dogs, play on the rocks, and play on water hydrants.  It was so much fun.  He had fun because I wasn't forcing him to do something he didn't want to do (like hold my hand or run slower).  I had fun because I got to see the kid beneath all the rage.  He really is a cutie.

 I think he tried to open this for at least 10 minutes.  It was so funny.  He has the best "straining" faces of anyone I know.

Our next round of dates have been just as fun.  I had a date with Nate last week and we ran into his little church buddy at the library.  Nate ran right up to him and told him he was on a date with his mom.
I think it's been a great system.  I hope the kids will enjoy it as much as me as the time goes by.