Drama Daddy: Painting the Daisies White… and Pink and Blue and Purple…

My daughter Clare is now in her second week of summer vacation—and, since she just finished Kindergarten, it’s her first “official” summer vacation from school. This summer is also the first time since Clare was four months old that she won’t be in daycare or at school during the days. Instead, because I’ve been a stay-at-home Dad for a few months, we’ll be spending every day—all day—of the summer together. I thought that I’d have a hard time coming up with activities for Clare and me to do, but Clare has been a helpful activity planner and has taught me a few things.

I’ll admit that I once thought I’d have more fun with a boy. With a son, I thought, I’d play baseball, watch Star Wars, race Matchbox and Hot Wheels cars, and wrestle around on the grass or floor. Of course, as any daughter’s Daddy’ll tell you, one look into a baby girl’s eyes and none of that matters. Still, once the cradling and baby games are over, what does a Dad do with a daughter. The truth is we do just about anything I imagined doing with a son and then some.

Here are just a few of the things that we’ve done in the two weeks since Kindergarten graduation:

• Cooking: Clare got a cookbook as a gift recently and has been waiting to try some recipes. One of them was for punch. Aside from the slapstick fun that we’ve had punching each other in the arm, we also had a great time pouring a few different kinds of juice into a punch bowl with a bottle of lemon-line soda. Clare tossed in some ice cubes and I added some orange slices and we had a party. We’ve also had great fun making Rice Krispie treats. My cooking skills are about level with a Kindergartener, so we always have a great time in the kitchen.
• Painting: Clare likes to help when I’m doing some home improvement project. I’ve let her help paint walls in our bathrooms, but that didn’t turn out so well. I’m a bad enough painter without the help of a five year-old. When I took on painting our front porch though, I figured it wouldn’t matter if we were a little sloppy. We got it done…and were a little sloppy. We got white paint on ourselves and on the daisies in front of the porch, but we also got it on the porch where it was supposed to be. We also took a bookcase for Clare’s room outside and painted it. All of this was with washable paint, of course.
• Dying shirts and daises: Clare tie-dyed shirts at preschool over a year ago and has been asking ever since if we could tie-dye at home. She told me that she knew exactly what we needed and exactly how to do it. Being just a little smarter than her—and a little skeptical of the preschool memory—I checked for myself this week and got us the supplies. We stewed up some colors and made ourselves purple, pink and blue tie-dyed shirts. Clare also saw directions in a magazine for dying daisies. So, as soon as we pick up some food coloring, we’ll be soaking the stems and watching for the petals to turn colors.
• Splashing, biking, running, baseball, golf and pretty much anything else a kid could do in the summer: Having a girl isn’t holding me back from having a good ol’ sweaty time outside like I did when I was a kid. We’ve both got bikes and Clare’s a little more confident on her training wheels with me riding beside her. We’ve also been hitting some wiffle balls and plastic golf balls around the yard. And, when we’re done, we’ve got a sprinkler and a pretty-cool-as-kids’-pools-go pool for cooling off.

So, my worries that we’d have nothing to do this summer have been, so far, unwarranted. Take all of this activity and throw in a little TV time, a little computer time, some games, and (don’t tell Clare) an occasional dash of learning, and we’re booked for the summer. We just have to keep it up for about eight or nine more weeks.