GTKY: Childhood Edition

[Deleted User] · January 2015

What is one or more thing(s) you really enjoyed doing with your family as a kid? Do you plan on incorporating it into your children's lives?

[Deleted User] · January 2015

When I was young (under age 6) I was a huge daddy's girl. He bought me the VHS of The Little Mermaid and a tape with songs on it. The tape had songs from the movie, as well as Three Little Birds by Bob Marley, etc., on it. He used to play the tape for me and we would dance in his room together. It always made me laugh to see my dad being silly and dancing to songs from a "girl movie."

We also used to go to his friend's pond and catch tadpoles. I got to keep a few in a five gallon bucket and they were my pets. I always thought it was so cool. Until I took them out too much with my little green fishnet and they died. Sad face.

--

I've already tried to incorporate the singing and dancing with DS. I know he's tiny, but I want him to grow up and enjoy being silly and dancing and just feeling happy. Now it's also a bit of a work out for me, haha.

persephonerose · January 2015

My grandmother was big on baking for all the holidays. One of our favorites was Halloween. We would make goodies to hand out to the kids in the neighborhood. Obviously, I can't do that any more, but I plan to cook and bake with my kids.

staryb · January 2015

My dad always made special breakfasts on the weekend and I would help. DH already does this for us so we'll definitely be continuing it. Plus, he bought me a waffle iron when I was pregnant specifically because my dad and I used to make waffles together

My dad and I also played chess and poker a lot. Poker may not be terribly appropriate but I loved it. We used to play with his change and I would get to keep my winnings.

I feel bad that I don't have more fun memories with my mom. I am an only child and my dad was definitely the more fun and, dare I say, better parent to me. I really want to focus on family time that involves all of us in addition to one on one time like I had with my dad.

bumpuser10309732 · January 2015

Cooking large meals together. I love cooking because of that. It's where I recharge. My mom always baked with me and I can't wait to do it with my daughter. My dad always read to me in stupid voices, anything to make us smile. This is even weirder if you know my dad. He's a mans man but for me he'd wear a tutu if it made me happy. Lol I love that man. Again, damn girls and their dads!

hecklet · January 2015

Hopefully camping! My fondest memories come from our frequent trips.

Emerald27 · January 2015

Definitely camping and traveling, like @hecklet said! I never went camping when I was a kid. First time was in college with DH, and camping is a huge deal in his family. It's so fun, and we did it a lot before DS1 was born. Have only been camping a time or two since. I really want to do a lot of camping and hiking with our kids, and that's one of my New Years resolutions, to camp at least seasonally if not more often. We're just an hour from the Appalachain Trail.

I grew up on a hobby farm riding horses. We at one point bred, raised, and trained two of our horses. It was a lot of fun, and I did a lot of competing. It was a real passion of mine, but I haven't ridden much since I became pregnant with DS1. My mom talks as though she expects me to encourage our kids to take riding lessons and get involved with the horse world, but I'm just not sure. It was one thing to gallop around on a giant animal myself, but when I look at these little boys and think horses, I think danger! lol, maybe it'll be different when they're older or if they ask.

2goingon3 · January 2015

Summer road trips! Ours generally revolved around soccer or softball tournaments, but just packing up the car and going somewhere for a day trip, overnighter or weekend is reminiscent of my childhood.
We've got a good start on that already

Keeping active: I still play recreational team sports, and I just remember being so busy going from one field to another, I want that for my kids. Now that the older 2 are old enough to play team sports, we spend weekends on the soccer field, swimming, skating lessons and soon we'll have softball/baseball, hockey and dance.

Klavanga74 · January 2015

Boating. We never took vacation because my parents saved their money to get an old boat and keep it on a lake about an hour away. We'd go every weekend in the summer and spend my Dad's summer vacation on it. It was big enough for us to all sleep on. We'd go out in the mornings, sometimes while I was still asleep, anchor for the day and swim, read, play card games, etc. At night we'd stargaze. We weren't allowed to anchor overnight on the lake, but we'd stay out late and I'd fall asleep on the way home. I wish that we could do that with the kids but it's both expensive and a big responsibility. My Dad's looking at boats at the moment, so I'm hoping they'll get one so the kids can have the experience.

Klavanga74 · January 2015

I should say we never traveled for vacations...

pnwlover12 · January 2015

keelyd said:
Going to play and musicals was one of my favorites -- I still do this with my dad when I make it home. Once ds is bigger, we'll definitely start going to the theatre.
The other thing we did frequently, that I loved, was go to the beach. But seeing as I now live in WA and not southern CA, I'll have to find a different outdoor activity.

You can still go to the beach! Have you ever been to Alki in Seattle? Also further north there is Kayak Point which is gorgeous too. If you go south you can hit up Ocean Shores and Westport, both really fun beach towns.

ANGnJON · January 2015

Summers were always so fun! We would go to the beach house every weekend & spend a few weeks there each summer. We now live at the beach but I still plan to take the twins to do all the "touristy" type stuff I did growing up!

shannonshare · January 2015

My family really valued travel so we generally took two big trips a year. I hope that we can do the same with our kid(s).

We would bake every Friday...unfortunately, it was just from the box. I hope to bake with the kid(s) and teach them how to do it from scratch.

@keelyd My mom also took me to watch musicals and I loved that.

bumpuser10309732 · January 2015

@MRSclarke08‌ I love that! I still go on dates with my dad.

2goingon3 · January 2015

pnwlover12 said:

keelyd said:
Going to play and musicals was one of my favorites -- I still do this with my dad when I make it home. Once ds is bigger, we'll definitely start going to the theatre.
The other thing we did frequently, that I loved, was go to the beach. But seeing as I now live in WA and not southern CA, I'll have to find a different outdoor activity.
You can still go to the beach! Have you ever been to Alki in Seattle? Also further north there is Kayak Point which is gorgeous too. If you go south you can hit up Ocean Shores and Westport, both really fun beach towns.

We live just outside of vancouver bc, so our beaches are the same as seattle, but still awesome!! And I lived in Florida for a year, so I get the whole white sand thing. But if you head north across the border, the trip to white rock beach is worth it during low tide, so many tide pools to explore, and some great restaurants with even better patios.

angeltennis3 · January 2015

Every year my dad would take my brother and I camping. I loved the time with just my dad. Camping isn't DHs thing but I am hoping he can do some kind of weekend getaway once a year with our kids the same way my dad did with me.

I also want DH and I to have one on one "dates" with our kids.

For a while we will take an annual family vacation, but honestly probably starting in late junior high age I started absolutely hating family vacations. My parents would get so mad at me because they would spend all of this money but I would be miserable the entire time. I hated sleeping in the same room with my entire family and never getting any alone time. I think I like the idea better of renting a beach or lake house with other families (either relatives or just friends) so that there is more space to spread out. DH and I will probably also try and do vacations just the two of us (once the kids are old enough) and leave them with grandparents.

2goingon3 · January 2015

tarraberra said:
Dad always made us Mickey Mouse pancakes!

Mom would read my sister and I the Little House on the Prairie books before bed. Not sure if I'll read DS the Little House books, but I'll definitely read him Boxcar Children, Harry Potter, etc. I think the fact that our parents read to use very night is a huge factor in how much my siblings and I LOVE to read. DH didn't get read to as a child and he thinks that's why he won't read if he doesn't have to.

I LOVE boxcar children!!!!!!!! And HP, but boxcar is less obvious...

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