DadJack.com Blog

I’ve told you before, heck we’ve even made videos, about how cooking is a great way to spend time with the kids… Well, the preparation can be just as great!  Talk to your Tot about what they want to make, search the internet for a recipe (Or pick something easy like homemade pizza or cookies).  Make a shopping list, now depending on how old your kids are this process can differ, but with my kids I read off the ingredients and they draw pictures of them on our list along with the quantity we need.  We start in the pantry and see if we have any of the items, if we do we cross them off… For everything else we’re off to the market.  And don’t incorporate this into your normal market trip, make it special for this project.  Go down the aisles, let them find the items, explain pricing and size options… It is not just quality time, but a great learning experience for them to learn how to compare items, learn lessons about money and better understand sizes and measurements.  Also, about completing tasks and following a list.

Once the list is complete, the only thing left to do is cook!  Go home and have a blast!

If you have any fun “Dad-Tivities” sent them to me at jack@dadjack.com

It’s not the cooking, or the laundry, I’ve always been able to handle that.  It’s not the trips to the super market, one kid taking a “test bite” out of each apple we have selected while his sister tries to sneak Lucky Charms and anything else Daddy has deemed “junk” into the cart.  It’s not going to the aquarium or the zoo, I can always rope my Sister or Mom into helping me with those special trips.  It’s not getting both kids bathed and into their jammies, we work together and get it done quite smoothly.

The hardest part is watching it all happen alone, all the special times.  I don’t mean sitting 5 or 6 rows away from my ex and her husband at Lucy’s school events, I mean those special moments that happen almost daily as your kids grow and discover.  The little things that amaze you or overwhelm you, the things that can only truly be appreciated by your partner, the person who you created these miracles.

When you check on them sleeping and they look so peaceful, snoring those little snores or  when they are laying on the floor concentrating so hard on the drawing they are making, crayon in fist, creating a mini-masterpiece.  When you are cooking together and you go through almost the full dozen eggs just trying to learn how to crack them correctly (And Baby ends up wearing more than actually get in the mixing bowl).  And the millions of other tiny, but amazing, things that they do on a daily basis.  I capture many of these moments on tiny SD cards, and share them with friends and family… I have filled dozens of them.  But mostly, I fill my brain with them, filing them away under the “extremely important” category, understanding how special each one is… And that I am the sole keeper of these historic moments…  And that there is a full set of these moments, happening on the other side of the hill and across the basin that are being shared with someone unworthy of their greatness and power, that I will never know.