It’s amazing how things that may seem insignificant or even annoying to us can be such a great memory to our kids. I recently had another dad post a story about a memorable experience he had with his daughter. And, it got me thinking. How many times I may or may not have done something because of how much of an inconvenience it was to me.
One Dad’s Tale
Story Time: A few weeks ago, Becca (my wife) was going to be home late and Millie (my daughter) was ravenous after preschool, so we headed to the McDonalds. I wanted to drive-thru and get home so I could get a few things done around the house, but Millie insisted on sitting in. I tried to dissuade her from going in, campaigning along the lines of “If we go inside, it will be boring. We’ll have to just sit and wait & wait & wait…” Well, she wasn’t giving up and it wasn’t a hill I needed to die on, so we went inside.
We had a nice time and left, but since then, every time we drive past that McDonalds, she points and tells me she wants to go there. But she never mentions getting her favorite chicken nuggets, or a happy meal toy or anything. All she says is “Dad, can we go eat at McDonalds? I want to go inside to wait & wait & wait & be boring with you.“
Looking back
I think back and it was so inconsequential to me. We sat and I told her some jokes and asked about her day while we waited. I put her on my lap and read some things from my phone while we waited. We played tic tac toe on a napkin while we waited. But it was all time she and I just interacted with each other.
If I had gotten my way, we would have gone home. I would have set her up with a game or PBS show while I cleaned something or started laundry. Instead we sat and we waited & waited & waited together and hung out while being boring. It was really nice to know how much just that little extra time meant to her.
There’s some moral to the story here about spending quality time, or how fast food drive thrus are killing the american familial bond or something. I’ll let you sort it out. I’m just grateful to have a kid that likes being boring with me.
Take a Second
This is the perfect kind of story to make you take a step back. Ask yourself if the little inconveniences are getting in the way of you making memories with your kids. So, I reached out to this dad and asked if I could share his story. The hope was that somebody else would get the same out of it as I did. No matter what you takeaway, I hope maybe next time something insignificant, like spending an extra couple minutes going inside instead of the drive-through, comes along you will always choose more time with the kiddos.