New Thing #200: Sending The Kids To Camp

I'm working a lot this summer. This might not strike you as unusual, as perhaps you always work through the summer.

And I'm not seeking your sympathy.

I am simply stating fact: I'm working a lot this summer.

It's because of a project I took on at work, and the project is going well, thanks for asking.

But the reason I bring this up is it's a departure from my regular summer activities.

And I think that's been great for my kids.

See, in previous years I was home the entire summer with my daughters. It's one of the great benefits of my current career. Once or twice a week we'd put the girls in day care to give them some time with their friends (and to give Dad some time to get together with his friends...or enjoy some time by himself), but most of the week it was just me and my girls.

I remember my first summer with my oldest daughter - she probably wasn't quite 2. We'd be up early, then late in the morning we'd watch Sesame Street before settling into lunchtime, afternoon nap, and then playing a bit before my wife came home and it was time for dinner.

When a second daughter entered the picture, I structured things a little more so the centerpiece of our activities wasn't a television show. We'd do playgrounds or museums or something like that in the morning and take it easy in the afternoon. I'd invite friends with kids in the same age range to join us for particularly exciting morning activities. It was great. I called it 'Sucich Summer Camp.'

But this summer I just wouldn't have the time.

So my oldest two daughters are at real camp. And they love it.

They swim. They do all kinds of different activities from tennis to yoga to sports to arts and crafts. (Oh yeah, I forgot - I did arts and crafts too. Or at least pretended to. It's not my strong suit.)

And that's why this is a better situation for my daughters. They're learning to swim. They're learning tennis. They're making new friends. They're doing real arts and crafts.

I've learned a new joy of parenting this summer - picking up happy children at the end of a good day of camp.

It's almost as good as having happy children with me all day.

New Thing #153: Doing Dad Things

I don't mean to mislead you with that title. I've always done "Dad things".

It's just that for so long those things have entailed feedings and diaper changings and the like.

Things that I don't remember my dad doing because I was too little.

But now, as my kids are getting older, I'm doing some of the things for them that I remember my dad doing for me.

And that's what I think of when I think of "Dad things".

On Saturday, I spent some time doing these sorts of things.

I had to get the girls' bikes ready for the bike-riding season.

My first task failed - I have a pump at home and I tried to pump up their bike tires. I can't figure out that pump for anything. But the tires were passable enough for our ride.

The next thing was adjusting the seats. For some reason, this brought back a flood of memories from when I was younger and we'd get our bikes out, and my dad would adjust the bike seats.

It went well - a regular wrench did the trick on one bike, and then on the other bike I had to use an allen wrench. The cool thing about that is that I had never used an allen wrench for anything but the ready-to-be-made furniture (shelves, desks) that you buy at Bed Bath & Beyond or Target. Where the wrench and everything you need to make the thing comes in the package.

When I saw my daughter's bike seat I was shocked - there was no nut for a wrench or spot for a screwdriver or anything. Then I realized it looked like the kind of hole allen wrenches go into, so I tore through my toolbox to see if there was something in there that would fit in that hole.

Imagine my surprise when I saw that I owned a set of allen wrenches - including one that was perfect for this task.

It was very dad of me.

Next up, sometime in the next month - no more training wheels for my oldest daughter's bike.

Don't worry - I'll figure out a way to get them off.

I'm a dad.