We’ve reached the end of the first week where Lily was in her school’s summer camp full-time. I only saw her for long enough to ferry her to and from summer camp, her swim lessons, and the hour between camp ending and Mommy coming home from work. This has obviously been quite the departure from the schedule I described last month.
This week I was often reminded of the scene from Married…With Children when Peg was leaving for some reason and she asked Al if he would miss her. Al’s response: “I can’t miss you unless you leave.”
I feel conflicted about it, but I feel like a better father when I’m less of a father.
During the school year, our afternoons together were often less than the bonding experience most people pictured. It normally involved a struggle to get her to take a nap so I could get some work done. If that failed, she was in front of the TV. It wasn’t very efficient, both in terms of time spent and relationship built.
Now I pick her up at 4:00 or so, having accomplished far more than I’m accustomed to and definitely feeling as if I have productively used the day. She bounds into the car, full of things to talk about. We then go home and actually spend time together. My skill with watercolors has gotten so much better just from this week alone!
I think Lily recognizes it, too. She actually wants to spend time with me after Wifey gets home from work. Instead of wanting a cartoon before bed time, she’s been watching TV with me. In a compromise, I’ll switch from sports to a nature show. She’ll simultaneously be amazed and frightened by whatever man-eating creatures I can find, then we’ll paint pictures about them the next day.
I’d love to tell you what effect this new schedule will have on Lily’s weekend activities, but I’m taking this experiment to an extreme: I’m flying across the country for my first travel experience by myself since she was born! Just a quick weekend jaunt to San Francisco for a conference.
I’m sure I’ll miss her more than enough to carry us through next week, at which point we depart for our family vacation to Nova Scotia. Then we move to the new house. It’s a busy time, and as we all know children start getting antsy when their schedule is disrupted. I’ll probably be more than happy to drop her off with her teacher when it’s all done, but only because then we can continue the process of growing our relationship instead of trying to survive the day.
Caregiver Dad 
Kudos! The more Daddy Daughter Time, the better. 🙂