Papatunities

Papatunites are moments, activities and opportunities for Dads, to Dad bigger and better.

They’re simple ideas and suggestions designed for fathers, to support them in the deepening of their parenting and relationships with their kids. Papatunities speak to father’s unique approaches to parenting. Papatunities embrace Dad values that are sure to challenge both you and your kids, inspire laughter and play, and they’re certain to create just the kind of memories you’ve been hungry for.

Each Papatunity includes a program write up, and explanation of the learning elements and suggestions for how to unpack them, materials lists, and more. But the best way to take advantage of a papatunity is to do just it! Papatunities abound, just go do it Dad!

Check back weekly for new Papatunities

Big Activities or Rainy, Boring, There’s nothing to do moments

We’ve all heard it before, “I’m sooo bored.” After working through all the traditional dad responses including: “When I was a kid I was we didnt even…..” Or “Nice to meet you bored. You look a lot like my kid…..” you might consider one of the following exciting indoor activities. But dont skimp or skip steps. With bigger indoor activities designed to mitigate the intense feelings of ….boredom, know the details are everything. Extra bells and whistles, decorations, invitations, and so on all add to the experience and secretly message - “this thing we're doing is so cool I'm spending a lot of time and energy on it, you should appreciate it too”. More than anything, kids long to engage and be engaged. You cant go wrong with the following ideas and anyway you can add to them is just going to be a plus one to the experience. Boring days will be a thing of the past.

Movienight

The Why: Learning to compromise around the TV helped many of us 'boomers" learn a special kind of tolerance. You might not get exactly what you want, but you can have fun joining in with someone elses interest and its certainly important to learn to not yuck other peoples yums. Plus those individual screens are the worst!

Movienight is a great surprise, and a cure for everyone on their own screens. It starts with a movie selection, arguably the most challenging part. Commonsense media is your friend here, even if they are a little more conservative than you are. We +2 every age recommendation. Paper tickets are always fun announcing the title and time. Consider an older movie, maybe a musical you remember loving as a kid. And punch it up with a snack bar, fresh popcorn (microwave of course), and other yummy snacks. I like to slide the tickets under everyone doors in envelopes with their names on them, just to add to the fun. And for those of you with projectors or even a TV to bring outside, outdoor movienights are even more exciting and covid safe.

Materials - A screen and comfy place for everyone to sit. Everyone needs a good spot. Popcorn, snacks, invitations and/or tickets to hand out in advance “Youre invited to the Fenton Cineman. Showing Tonight - The Sound of Music. 6pm. Masks not required

Carwash

The Why - Carwashes offer so much to learn and enjoy. And any out of the house and on your own activity is a winner in my book. Lessons around money are always valuable. Kids engage with adults from all over the neighborhood, they have to think about what attracts people and what people need (we call that empathy) . And, it's communal in that you really need a team which requires cooperation, compromise, and working in a group.

Carwashes offer kids and families the chance to learn some really important lessons while having a lot of fun. You probably remember this from when you were a kid. A small group of kids (or maybe a big group), usually based out of someone front yard and driveway, mounts a herculean effort to attract customers for an otherwise meh carwash.

Materials - A front yard, a hose, a bucket, some rags and possibly car wash soap or as my kids are most likely to use, dish soap (it makes a lot of bubbles). Bathing suits are recommended as are beverages, you dont want then coming in and out of the house wet. Marketing is a thing so you'll need to make Carwash signs for around the neighborhood. And most important of all, sunshine.

Cardboard City

The Why - Cardboard cities are an exciting activity for kids of all ages. For emerging engineers and tinkerers as much as budding artists and designers, cardboard cities offer hours of entertainment and exploration. They also reinforce the idea that there are many opportunities to have fun with recycled materials and without buying things.

Cardboard City is a high level Dad move. The materials are simple and the joy is real, but watch out or you’ll take over completely. Haha. Cardboard city is a great rainy day activity as well as an exciting summer project. Using cardboard boxes and ducktape, plus whatever you may want to decorate with, cardboard cities are also recycled, mostly. You can stash flattened cardboard boxes in the garage or like my kids and I have done, drive around on a rainy sunday and pick up cardboard waiting to be recycled from the local grocery store, liquor store, and so on. And the skies the limit. Actually not the ski. But with some serious ducktape reinforcement and highquality (wink wink) cardboard, second and even third stories can be achieved.

Materials - Cardboard boxes, flattened or not. Stores and markets often have lots of oversized cardboard to deconstruct while liquor stores can offer wine case size boxes to offer more structural integrity. And dont forget ducktape, fun colors are always preferable.

Challenge Course

The Why - Challenge courses are great activities that'll keep the entire family engaged both during the design phase as well as the competition.

A challenge course is a great, easy to put together an activity for a sunday, a rainy day or a free afternoon. And think creatively, you’ve got lots of materials to use around the house. Challenge courses can be inside, outside, or both. And you can really differentiate the activities to challenge a mixed age group. Coparents might even be coaxed into participation. Like other activities you can punch it up with some more formality, invitations, a big scorecard, possibly teams (thought watch out for too much competition), and even prizes and awards. And before you get into the competition, involve everyone in the design phase as well.

Materials - Your house is full of materials to use in a challenge course. A spoon and egg for an egg race, scarves or bandanas are great for blindfolds and three legged races. Colorful masking tape is handy to make lines wherever you need them. Of course a ball is handy. If you have stairs in your house that's a natural feature.

Lemonade Stand

Why - Lemonade stands, in addition to offerings many of the same learnings as a carwash, offer young business people the opportunity to not only sell lemonade but also give it away. On a hot day there's nothing better than a cold glass of lemonade, and there’s no better way to get in good with a neighbor than by offering a cool drink, on the house. Kids love to hook people up!

Lemonade stands are another commercial venture for kids we all remember from our own childhoods. Like the carwash, lemonade stand entrepreneurs learn valuable life lessons from the experience. But what lemonade stands also offer is an easier entry point, developmentally speaking. While washing a car or other more service orientated activities (think mowing the lawn, walking the dog, etc) are best for older kids, lemonade stands are fun for all.

Materials - A table and chairs, disposable cups (recyclable if possible), a big sign, and a solid lemonade recipe. We use whatever cheap, junky lemonade mix we can find, water, and then the kids add some fresh squeezed lemon juice to give it that authentic lemonade taste.

Paint a mural

Why - Painting has a permanence to it. At least it feels like that. And it's because of that that painting an outside mural is a great activity - you can always repaint. Start with a design process. Kids are more patient when they think the stakes are high - paint is permanent. Then they can mark the wall up to create some lines to paint in, or not. And they're off. Once you can let go and let them make art, mural painting becomes and exciting big activity that messages to the kids - I trust you to do this big serious thing and contribute to the beauty of this home.

A Mural? I know, it sounds like a lot. But fear not. Murals happen to be one of the best low stakes, super immersive big activities you can do. And they're really low stakes. Pick a wall outside you can handle repainting at some point. Make the decision that repainting one wall of a fence, lets say, isnt a big deal. And then head to the paint store to go shopping. Mural ideas can be found on the internet along with detailed instructions if you're feeling ambitious, or a little controlly of the outcome. Otherwise outdoor scenes tend to look great as do flowers, rainbows, and other kid art. It all looks great on a fence outside. And like so many big activities, if you get out of the way and let your kids really take over, they'll remember the experience forever and it'll cost next to nothing.

Materials - A wall. A nice collection of paint and lots of it. This can be outdoor paint but I've used big bottle of cheap water based acrylic paint. I like it because it fades faster. Lots of paintbrushes. Card board boxes to break down into pallets for paint. Blue painters tape is nice for lines. A bucket or two of water to clear the paintbrushes and they should be good to go.

Everyday Good Ideas

Keep an eye open and stay nimble because the day is full of smaller opportunities to Dad at the next level. Smaller papatunties don't take a lot of time. They’re productive in that many address multiple needs, killing at least two birds with one stone (no, killing birds isnt one of them). And as you let them punctuate your day, they serve as mini mindfulness exercises. After I got a divorce I noticed that when my kids came back home to my house, it always took a couple hours to decompress and manage the intense code switching of living in two houses. I knew they had a need, to get some help with the transition, but I also understood that the strategies they were employing were individual. They weren't looking for connection, they needed space to adjust. Olfactory experiences message in very gentle ways, so that was my move, I bake banana bread every transition day. I’ve got it down to a less than five minute process and the smell of freshly baked anything was just what they needed to help support a gentle landing. Everyday Papartunites are often the best. Where do you see room for a papartunity?

Baking

Why - Baking is great for kids. There's accessible reading because recipes are very clear and relatively easy to follow. Pre or slower to read kids are generally able to make their way through baking recipes. There's measuring and often some basic hands on addition and subtraction. Knives are rarely involved but the heat of the oven adds just the right amount of danger to keep it interesting. And if thats not reason enough, tasty treats abound.

Master baking! Or just master a couple recipes, go to baking projects you can bang out in no time and fill your house with yummy smells. There’s little that compares to coming home to the smell of freshly baked, anything. And as it turns out it's pretty easy. In addition to baking for my kids before they come home, I ask them to bake too, a lot. And if you don't want to work with flour and so on, we go through boxed brownie mix like it's going out of style. And get so many compliments on the kids "secret brownie recipe."

For an added wrinkle, if your family dynamic can handle it, you can make it a baking competition. The only rub to baking is the mess - pour yourself a glass of wine beforehand and try not to stress. Messes can be cleaned.

Simple Banana Bread
4 Bananas
2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs mixed up
teaspoon of baking powder
1/3 cup veg oil

Mix everything together really well. Maybe smash the bananas first. Otherwise all in a bowl until its mixed well. Then grease a pan (pour a little oil in the thing youre baking in and then using a paper towel rub the oil around so it makes the sides and bottom slippery. Pour the batter in and put in the oven for 30 minutes at 350.