A Day With Dad

by Alison
(Inwood, NY)

My preschooler’s favorite outing with her dad is to go with him to school on a weekday. My husband is in grad school, getting his PhD, but this would work equally well with a little adaptation for someone who works full-time.

The night before, my husband and daughter pack their backpacks together. His is packed with actual school supplies, and hers is usually packed with toys and picture books. This gets my daughter so excited for the upcoming day she can hardly sleep!

In the morning they pack a lunch together and head off to school together. My husband usually rides the public bus, so I drop them off together at the bus stop and they play with my daughter’s toys and read her books on the trip to school.

Once they arrive, they go to my husband’s lab at school. He usually has some sort of experiment set up, and lets her push the button or move the magnets. She likes to do what dad does all day. It makes her feel so big!

They usually go to the pond on campus to feed the ducks and watch the fish next. On different occasions they have visited the school pool, gone to the art museum, and gone for walks. They eat the lunch they have packed and visit the campus book store to get a little souvenir so my daughter can remember the trip. I pick her up after lunchtime so she can get home for a nap.

She loves her outings with Dad and talks about them for months afterwards!