I do things with my kids all the time. But I often get almost anxious to get back. I always have so much to do. When I’m not working or hanging out with the kids, I’m working on something.
- I don’t watch TV, unless it’s shows with my kids.
- I don’t watch movies, unless it’s with my family.
- Any time I have that’s after work hours, but not with family is doing something else, like doing stuff around the house for my wife, or building a tree house for the kids.
I can’t not be productive.
What I mean by checking out, in a good way, was that I took my boys hiking up a new trail and just stopped everything in my mind… At least as much as I could.
When I got the thought “that’s been long enough, we can head back now” I ignored it and kept hiking. I’d just look at my kids and think, “this is their time.” And that helped quiet that voice.
Seeing them immerse themselves in this trickle of a stream for half an hour also helped. That thirty minutes was nearly meditative. I just watched. In my mind I imagined what was in their minds.
There was a small bridge further below, outside of the pic’s view. They dug out the debris from beneath it to clear a better path for the stream.
Here they are moving little rocks out of the stream’s path to help it flow better.
[click to enlarge]
As we got ready to head back down the trail, my younger son found a geocache hidden in a tree. If you’re not familiar with geocaches, they’re like outdoor scavenger hunts that are played across the globe. People hide notes and you share them online, but without giving the location away.
We opened it up and he was a little underwhelmed. He thought it’d have a cool message or something. It just had a line to write your name. But we had no pen.
Overall, he was excited though. “Dad! That’s the first one I’ve ever found.”
I tried to check out of my regular world and into the immediate world around me at that moment.
Seeing my kids constantly excited to find new “walking sticks” helped.
Them running up the trail to see what was around the next corner helped.
The wind kept blowing a perfect breeze, making music with the leaves. That helped.
I let go of time. Was nice.
