Family First ~ Breakfast Dates

Christian, Faith, Family, Family First Friday's, friends, kids, mel's world, melissa mashburn, Women's Ministry
Breakfast Dates

(This is my youngest son, Bailey, acting silly at one of our Breakfast Dates at a local Cuban bakery)

One of my favorite things to do to keep my “Family First” is to set up regular times to be with each of the kids on their own. My husband will take one of them and I will take the other and we like to go out for a Breakfast Date. Since we have two boys we call them “Breakfast with the Boys” mornings.

I have to admit though, since my oldest is in high school and gets there at 7am (yep, you didn’t misread that, he gets to school by 7am and we drive him…well…hubby drives him, ha!) it makes it a little more challenging to have a breakfast date with him. We’ve had to re-adjust what that means with him, but I think you get the point.

The reality is that it doesn’t have to be an expensive outing and it doesn’t have to be long, but it does require your undivided attention (making it a point not to answer your phone during this time always helps) and a willingness to really be there with them.

We usually only go out for about 30-45 minutes and if we have our Breakfast Date on a school day it is a perfect lead in to talk about what’s going on in their world at school (which can be a very scary time for the kids). The kids also know that this is THEIR time…any question they want to ask is open and on the table.

At first this was a little awkward for them, but now that we’ve opened that dialogue they’ve begun to use this as their time to really ask the hard questions. For us, as the parents, we have to be willing to answer those questions as openly and honestly as we can and as they can handle for their age.

Try it…set up a time when you can have some one on one time with your kids and schedule a breakfast date. Let them pick where you are going, block out some time for it, and see what happens when you do.

Keeping your Family First!

Seeking JOY on the Journey,

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4 Comments

  1. Love it Melissa! Your blog is so good. The authorof ScreamFree says to be your child's tour guide through life-this reminds me of that quote.

  2. This sounds amazing! My husband and I already take our two year old out on dates and she loves them! It makes her feel so special and loved.

    Thanks for a great idea! I love the whole breakfast theme!

    Rebecca

  3. Love it! We have breakfast as a family on Saturdays, although not one on one… but all together. Hubby cooks it up and we spend time just hanging out at home. It's always a blessed time. I'm anxious to carve out some time for each child alone too, though. Thanks for putting the idea on the front burner for me!

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