Planning a Father/Daughter Weekend When Mom is Out of Town

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Father’s Day is coming up, and the dads are taking over! Stay tuned all week as we hear from several awesome local dads, and be blessed by these glimpses into the mind and heart of a father.

Des Moines Dads Blog


In April, my wife Kelsey headed to Kansas City for a blogging conference, leaving me and my daughter Rooney home for some father-daughter bonding time. And aside from a handful of couple-hour stints here and there over the past two years, I’ve not had to tackle parenting alone.

I don’t know about other fathers, but this made me just a wee bit nervous because up until that point, Rooney had been developing a “mommy-do-it” attitude, and I had been pretty much useless when it came to helping Kelsey get Rooney ready in the mornings, around mealtime, and even at bedtime. And Kelsey gets to practice this every week as she stays home with Rooney on Wednesdays.

The “mommy-do-it” attitude was taking a toll on me as I generally try to be as helpful as I can, but the way things were going, I was just spinning my wheels. But as the weekend approached, I figured the best thing I could do was to plan out the things I wanted to do with my daughter while Mom was away and be prepared to improvise if needed.

The Planning

We had the entire weekend to do whatever we wanted. Kelsey was gone from Thursday evening until Sunday afternoon.

As I started to think about what we might do, I had resorted back to things I knew Rooney would like. Things I know she has enjoyed in the past, and also some things she was familiar with doing in an effort to keep some routine.

With that in mind I started making a list of things to do.

  • Groceries: We needed to eat and Rooney loves the little green shopping carts at Hy-Vee, so I knew that would be a normal errand we could run.
  • Church: This would be part of our normal routine. Although, Rooney goes to the nursery during worship for another double whammy: play time with kiddos for her, adult time for me!
  • Date: We rarely get out and do things just the two of us. So, I wanted to take Rooney out to eat – just me and her. I think this will be more frequent as she gets older, but it was a great time for a “first date.”
  • Zoo: We’ve got some friends who have four girls, and Rooney and Kelsey went with them to the zoo on a Wednesday earlier this year. This would be the “Main Event” of the weekend.

The Actual Weekend

Friday Evening

After work, I picked Rooney up from daycare and we got things rolling with a trip to Costco to stock up on snacks and food for the weekend.

Rooney at Costco

As we loaded into the minivan to leave Costco, I was trying to figure out where we should go for our date. (I’m a doer for sure. I was knocking out the list I’d planned without wasting any time.) I decided to let Rooney choose. I offered her two choices since we were in the area: 1. Chicken (Chik-fil-A) or 2. Tacos (Tasty Tacos).

She sat in her car seat and thought for a minute, then shouted, “TACOS!” So off we went to Tasty Tacos.

Rooney at Tasty Tacos

Saturday

We still had some grocery shopping left to do, so we went to Hy-Vee to finish off the grocery list.

We then spent the morning cutting up melon, washing strawberries, and playing around the house.

Rooney Washing Strawberries

We went to church on Saturday evening, knowing that Sunday was when we were heading to the zoo.

Sunday

We met our friends at the zoo. Rooney LOVES animals and had such a wonderful time. We got to ride the train and had a picnic lunch with our friends before heading back home for naptime.

Eric and Rooney on Zoo Train

After nap, Kelsey was on her way home and we were going to meet at Panera for supper. I caught this special moment on video.

As our special time together came to an end, I was shocked at what a little planning and preparation did for the weekend. The one thing I learned was that time is precious and I need to work at focusing my time with Rooney. It’s easy to get sucked into a to-do list, or to let time slip away when both Kelsey and I are around and we’re parenting together.

I had to be “on” for the entire weekend, but it was worth it. We had such a great time and bonded in a way that was really special. Even if Rooney went back to being a mommy’s girl once Kelsey returned.

How do you prepare for time alone with your littles?


Meet Guest Blogger Eric Williams

Eric Williams headshotEric Williams is the author of It’s Your Money, a journey of paying off $40,000 of debt in 23 months and steps you can take to do the same. He also writes about purposeful money and purposeful family at wordsofwilliams.com.

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