Four Ways to Spend Quality Daddy Time with Your Kids

Four Ways to Spend Quality Daddy Time with Your Kids

As a father, I want to help my wife who chooses to be a stay at home mother and spends about 90% of her time with our children. One person with 4 kids all day can be exhausting, so when I come home from work, the gym, or even football practice I try to figure out ways to give my wife some tranquil time.  Plus as a father who works 8 to 10 hours a day, coaches football, serves on boards and volunteers, I value the time I get with my children greatly. Here are my top four ways for dads to spend time with their little ones.

1. Take Them On a Ride

It’s amazing to think that something so simple could be so fun. I have four children between the ages three to ten, and they love hopping in the car and going for a ride. The Loch Raven reservoir about ten minutes from our home, it has picturesque views and long curving roads. We all head out for a twenty-minute ride and enjoy each other’s company. Listen to their favorite music, play car games, or they just tell me how their day was. The ride is a cool way for to ride and chill.

2. Grabbing a Quick Snack

Around our home, there are numerous shops, eateries, and treat spots. When I’m lucky to get home early from work especially during the summer, I would pick the kids up and take them to Baskin Robins or to a snowball stand and to get a cold treat. Sometimes we visit a local donut shop on a Sunday morning or swing by a local crab house to grab dinner on a Saturday. Setting aside an hour or two to grab a treat or a quick lunch works great to enjoy time with the kids.

3. Set Play Dates

I love playdates, normally it gets the kids outside and gets them active! Playdates are a cool because while your kids are playing and having fun with their friends, you get a chance to catch up with their parents and have some adult time as well. Play dates are normally a cost-efficient and cool way for kids to be active with their friends outside of school, which provides a good school-personal life balance.

4. Staycation

Recently my family and I went on a weekend staycation in Western Maryland. Thanks to Honda we were cruising around in the 2017 Cx9. Since school had just started we decided to have one last hurrah to end our summer. My wife looked for local places and we planned everything in less than a day. We left home on a Saturday evening and started the almost 2-hour ride to our hotel. Once we arrived we checked in, then we grabbed some snacks came back to our room and watch football, the kids played on their devices. We ordered Chinese that night for dinner, then got everyone to bed for our early start the next morning.

The next day we went out for breakfast and headed to Adventure Park USA, a small amusement park right off of highway 40. The kids rode go-carts, roller coasters, played laser tag and much more. Then we headed home to get ready for our week.

Having a chance to drive the Honda CX-9 was a great experience, the CX-9 is Honda’s biggest crossover SUV seating 6 passengers comfortably. Features are abundant in the SUV, in-dash screen with navigation, XM radio, and backup camera are pretty cool. Safety options are not spared with merge mirrors indicators, emergency automatic braking, along with side impact airbag curtains, Honda continues to provide safe and responsible vehicles.  With Bose premium sound speakers and powerful V-6 for a smooth ride. The Honda CX-9 ranks top of its class in full size crossover SUVs.

The storage space in this car was decent. More than I’ve seen in cars of similar makes. We were able to fit all our bags for the weekend and a stroller for our youngest in the trunk.

The center control panel made it easy for me to navigate the road and our entertainment options at the same time. It takes a bit to get used to when you’re not used to using it, but it was very convenient. The charging ports in this car were in odd places, one being on the side of the center console on the passenger side and the other in the middle storage area. While odd we did like the multiple options for the car.

The leather on the seats was heavenly and the color popped against the gunmetal grey of the car’s inner and exteriors. It was very easy to wipe clean of dust from shoes or food crumbs. Getting in and out of the rear of the car is a breeze with the folding seats. Our kids were all comfortable in the back during our ride.

To learn more about the 2017 Mazda CX-9 visit the Mazda website, and if you’re in the market for a new car the Mazda CX-9 Grand Touring starts at $42,270 MSRP.