Family time is an investment in the future of our children, but it is often hard to secure. Kav L’Noar recently invited less than enthusiastic fathers to join their at-risk children for a “father son activity” giving them the opportunity to spend quality time together, taking a pause from the pressures that exist within their relationships as well as from the strains of general daily living. They built card castles, played other games, and paired together in group activities. they didn’t play specialized therapy games. Just fathers and sons working as teams with mixed results; some successes, some failures.
But, these simple games took them out of stressful familial and daily living contexts. They reminded fathers of why they get stressed with their children or engage in stressful situations in the world, because they are invested in their children. The fathers appreciated this opportunity so much that at the end of the event they requested we do this on a regular basis. Even every other week. It is of note that our mentors and the school staff who they work with put in hours of time to convince these same fathers to participate in the first place. The element of change was quality time with their children. If we invest time in our children we will see dividends which benefit all of the parties involved.
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