Just like with couples, I believe that family date nights are essential. Families are based on relationships and in order for them to be healthy, they should be cultivated and not put on auto-pilot. With school, chores, and everything else in life, kids also need a reset button and a break. Family dates do that for us.
It allows us to escape the world and just enjoy each other. The kids love exploring new places, just like we do. Pre-COVID, we were ALWAYS on the move. Whether it was the movies, dinner, quick day trips, we just love going out! With COVID, like most families, we’ve been home since March. While we have planned activities in the house and gone for walks in the neighborhood, we really missed going out.
This past weekend, we decided to take the kids out on a family date. We were torn between downtown DC or a place by the water. We decided to go somewhere near the water, as it’s calming. We decided to go to the Annapolis Waterfront. My husband and I recently had a date night there and we had a great experience.
After we cleaned the house on Sunday morning, we told the kids to get dressed! They were so excited and kept asking where we were going. We always like to keep our family activities a surprise. We made our way towards Annapolis, which is about 20 minutes from where we live. We parked and explored downtown Annapolis. Soon, we were eating snacks, watching ducks, and talking. It felt great to just connect with my family.
We then had lunch at Pusser’s Caribbean grille. We enjoyed watching the boats sail by, the ducks swim and try to catch food, and just relaxing together. The kids talked the entire time about how grateful they were to be out with us — and we felt the same way!