I hate cutting grass, raking leaves, and shoveling snow. If I was a negative, pessimistic person, I could end this article now and say bah-humbug. But I’m not that way at all. I live by the saying, “If the world gives you lemons, make lemonade.” So let’s do that. Let’s make some lemonade.
We have a huge maple tree in our front yard that provides syrup in the winter, shade in the spring and summer, and a dead leaf bonanza in the fall. My oldest son is interested in building stuff, especially forts. This statement could probably be repeated inside the homes of millions, so I’ll say it again.
[pullquote align=”normal”]My oldest son is interested in building stuff, especially forts. [/pullquote]
Once our beloved maple was done its first leaf shedding party in October, I encouraged my fort-builder to create a leaf fort. It was quite brilliant how he put it together. He built a structured shell from a hockey net, plastic sliding board, entrance tunnel, and tarp. Then he piled the fallen leaves on top. When it was complete, it looked like a huge leaf pile that you would jump into. That’s what “normal” people do in the fall. They jump into the leaves. But we’re not “normal”. Our leaf pile was concealing a spacious lair.
Cool idea, right? Kenny worked for a while by himself as his sister and I did the raking and leaf blowing. We were his instruments as he made his rockin’ music. All in all, this was a great afternoon with the kids. But was it Dadnamics-Certified?
Did I infuse _(blank)_ into Dad time?
1) Creative – Definitely.
2) Adventure – Definitely.
3) Silliness – Questionable. That’s why I turned the leaf blower on the kids to zap them with my wind machine. They jumped and screamed, begging for more. This was the final check box. The Leaf Fort now was Dadnamics-Certified.
Now, I know what you’re saying. “How irresponsible and unsafe! You pointed a machine at your kids?!”
“Yes. I did. But it was a low power electric blower. I would never do it with the high velocity gas-powered models. That could blow their shirts right off. This would leave their skin unprotected from the cold and their shirts hanging from the power line. Very unsafe. Thus, I stuck to electric.”
In the final evaluation, we combined a fun project with a household chore. That’s all it takes perform Dadnamics with your kids. The extra effort is minimal and the extra benefit is exponential.
