As the father of three girls, an entrepreneur and a husband, it is hard to find the time and energy that satisfies my daughters.
To give you some background on my family, my oldest girl is seven years old, and the two foster daughters at my house are one year old and four years old.
Over the years I have had a lot of time to play with them and figure out what all three girls love to do. This blog post is for the dad that is not sure what to do when you have alone time with your daughter(s).
Playing Doctor: this one is fun because it is silly and it is great one-on-one time or to have the girls work together. I like to find things around the house – like a spoon or other household items — and pretend that they are doctor instruments. I will set my little girl on the couch and use these household items to give her a check up, then have her do it to me. I have a silly personality with my girls, so I will pretend to find things like dogs and cats inside their ears. Sitting down and playing with them like this gives us great time to chat, they love the attention, and it doesn’t require any extra toys (or money spent). When I play this game with more than one girl, they take turns being the assistant or we pretend that the “girl Doctor” has a waiting room and has to see us both.
Beauty School: one of the things I have a hard time doing is letting my girls be girls. I don’t know what girls like to do or what makes them happy, so I had to learn. When we play Beauty School I am the “customer” and my girls are the professional stylists. They will do my hair, pretend to paint my nails using toys (or pencils) and use some of their toys as pretend earrings. This has been a favorite for all three of my daughters for as long as I can remember, they love trying to make daddy look “pretty”. This is another activity that doesn’t require any extra toys, just imagination and a willingness to play along with the crazy ideas your little girls have for you.
Tattoo: this game is only for the brave! I only play this with my oldest daughter. I let her use dry erase markers on my arm and give me a “tattoo”! She loves it because she’s artistic and it’s kinda crazy. She loves telling her friends about it because none of the other dads let their daughters do this (so maybe I’m the crazy one). The dry erase marker comes off easy in the shower so there’s nothing permanent about it.
BONUS: if all else fails grab a board game!