“You’re going to be spending some time with your father when he gets home!” Is that a threat of discipline? Or the promise of an adventure? If you want “Dad time” to be more of the latter, join host Mike Smith and his guest for some creative ideas, today on Home School Heartbeat.
Mike Smith: My guest this week is homeschooling father Andy Fletcher. Andy, as dads, we need to really capitalize on the time we have with our families. Would you tell us about some of the fun tradition you’ve created with your children?
Andy Fletcher: Mike, I’ve found that traditions in our house often stem from letting my kids see what I love. I mean, we turn the dumbest stuff into traditions in our house. And I think it’s partly because we like to live our life as an adventure. Let me just give you a couple of examples. Every year, we throw a bash on Talk Like a Pirate Day. That’s not because of their mom—believe me, it’s because Dad’s the one that wants to be the pirate. We celebrate the longest day of the year because our family loves everything summer. On May the Fourth, we get to watch Star Wars movies. On July 11, which is 7/11 day, we celebrate Slurpee day, and we celebrate the donut day—all these fun things. What I love is when my kids come back and say, you know, “When I get older, and when I get married and I have my kids, we’re gonna come back and celebrate Pirate Day with you.” You know, it’s part of just letting your kids see what you love, and whether that’s sports or camping or cars or exercise or hobbies or whatever it is—just let them kind of join in with what I’m passionate about.
Mike: Well, Andy, those sound like terrific memories! And we encourage the dads listening to be creative and take advantage of these years that you have with your children because believe me, they are very short. And, until next time, I’m Mike Smith.
