Balancing work and personal life can be challenging. Add family life to that and it can be even more so. When my wife and I get off from work, we have literally minutes to wind down, regroup and then it’s off to pick up the kids from school. Then there’s a gauntlet of errands and chores to do that never seem to get done. Our social life? Virtually nonexistent (but that’s another post for another day). As difficult as it seems some days, somewhere in our day we have to squeeze in some time for the kids. Every parent has to.
Lately, I’ve been taking my 5 year old son biking and it’s proving to be some awesome quality time. He has been unstoppable on a bike since he learned to ride a couple years ago. Of course, I can’t keep up with him on foot so I had to pull my old bike out of retirement from my parents house.
We usually go to the park, it has a sidewalk all the way around it and a couple through the middle so we play follow the leader on bikes with him in the lead. He’s an expert at taking corners full speed, slamming on the brakes and skidding around the corner. He calls it drifting. He was pleasantly surprised to see that I could pull off that stunt too *popping my collar*.
We chat while we take water breaks and plan our next course through the park. Sometimes, he makes quick friends with other kids riding bikes and our activity turns into a larger game of follow the leader. We usually stay out until it just starts to get dark because its fun, and we don’t want to be on the streets on bikes in the dark. That’s just not safe.
Some of my favorite childhood memories with my dad are the times he would take my brother and I on hiking trips. I plan to keep up these biking outings for many years to come and hopefully, when Squirt’s older, he will remember these times too. As for me, I enjoy the exercise, I love the quality time and I will definitely remember these times as some of my favorites.
Daddy's Lil' Squirt 