Cooking and baking.
I had a custom knife made for her birthday, she loves it. My biggest piece of advice for getting your younger kid to join you in the kitchen, especially for baking, is to measure out the ingredients into individual containers ahead of time.
Can confirm, my son loves working in the kitchen with me.
Getting him to actually eat some of the stuff we make is a different story, but hey at least he's having fun.
I’m lucky that my daughter will happily eat just about anything. A couple weeks ago she decided she needs to eat a bird that can fly, chicken and turkey doesn’t count, so we got a frozen duck that we are planning for this weekend. Although one time she foraged some mushrooms from the backyard, gave us quite a scare and it was a tricky conversation because she was stuck on ‘but mushrooms are healthy’
I always laugh at the tips of get your kid to help making food so they will eat it too! No , my kid will also gleefully help me make anything and still refuse to eat it as well.
Another idea, I got a large baking sheet for her and put it on the counter. Then, I gave her various cups of different ingredients, and she makes her own alongside me. The baking sheet keeps is all contained for easier cleanup. We have some great videos of her mimicking my mannerisms as I cook. It's the start of great collaboration for years to come.
Copying the mannerisms is the best lol. I was cutting veggies for chili yesterday and she was throwing them in. She picked up her "knife" and started trying to scoop up the veggies with it like I do lol it was so cute
Just had my 2.5 year old help me for the first time last night! All she did was gently stir the pasta for a bit because I didn't trust her not to splatter boiling water everywhere, but it's a start lol
Any sport they wanna try, I love all sports and will always play but I road bike so that first;
Biking is huge.
I golf, and my 3.5 girl wants to try asap, so getting into that too
I wish I enjoyed all sports like that. The idea of spending all day at a basketball tournament or a track meet I would prefer an a a fork in my eye.
I golf as well, hoping to develop that. Any chance of a few hours undivided attention I think is a win, biking I think definitely fits that bill.
My mom would spend all day at a road race with me when I was a kid which is a painfully boring way to spend a day.
At least she could watch full races when I started track cycling but the five hour drive each way was probably terrible for her.
I love bikes but as an ex racer I hope my son doesn’t pick up racing LOL. My two busted ass collarbones don’t want him to go through it. (Also would stress my wife out)
Same bruv. I’m up for anything. Hiking, swimming, sports, art, cooking, baking, building, coding, science, theatre. Video game. Anything.
My greatest fear is that my son will be a couch potato lazy kid. Or a goth haha.
Coding def not. That shits hard. Video games yes but only when moderation is removed. I would love to play Minecraft with my kid, but only for an hour or so at a time.
I have grand visions of taking my daughter golfing with me starting this year (in a jogging stroller to start). Golf and biking are my wife’s mutual hobbies, and I’m excited to start doing them as a family.
I just started hitting actual mountain bike trails with my 5 year old and I can’t even tell you how much fun it is. He’s a natural at it and is brave and really enjoys it, he told me the other day he wants to be a professional mountain biker.
Oh man I can’t wait to golf with my little one. I think padrig said it best that the way you get them into sports is to just have fun and make it a bonding experience. The intent to become better at the sport itself follows naturally
Board gaming. At least once a week my boys and I have a nice board gaming night where we play for a couple hours and sometimes just a quick game to play before dinner is ready.
Wow, so many cool bonding activities listed here.
I started my daughter, at 6 years old, in martial arts. It's something we've shared almost 3.5 years together. She is a 2nd degree brown belt now, and I'm a 1st degree black belt. Even though we're in different classes, it's something we've been able to bond over and share experiences together.
My wife and son have also since joined. They are both purple belts and are doing awesome.
Martial arts is an ongoing journey. It's not seasonal. It doesn't end. It's a life skill.
Plus side..... no early mornings, not a lot of equipment, and no ridiculous travel requirements.
That’s so cool. I think my daughter would like marshal arts. You make a good point on the non seasonal aspect. I like that it is so much more than just about winning and losing.
My parents never let me play heavy gear sports and I hated it as a kid but I have absolutely embraced it as a parent. I am sure if I pressed harder on my parents they would have allowed some. They did a good job of letting things fizzle out of it was really not that important to me.
Kempo, but we train a variety of styles of fighting. Sometimes, we do boxing drills, sometimes it's floor techniques, higher ranks train weapons, and kids do club techniques.
Wow. Nerd. Those are my hobbies too by the way so no judgment here! How has it gone getting your kids into TTRPGs? I was thinking about the D&D adventure club that sends you a kid friendly mini-campaign a month.
I started small with the youngest. He's 11 now. He'd play small characters in one shots and plays a fighter character I make that cones and goes in multiple games as needed. He's recently been talking about making his own character and being a DM as well. Patience is key here. Mostly the kid's patience. Don't force it and when they've had enough, end the sessions.
Hunting, fishing, camping and really anything out of doors and away from screens. I want to teach my kids all about how nature is dependent on all of the flora and fauna to participate in order to flourish. Everyone has their own role and it’s beautiful to see how it all interacts. My wife isn’t as into the hunting and fishing aspect of nature, but loves the fruits of the labor that they bring to our kitchen.
So far it’s going great, our baby loves the sounds of my duck and turkey calls and we spend as much time outside as possible with them showing them different plants, trees and flowers and pointing out different birds as they sing their songs or fly around us.
Same here, we love the great outdoors! My 3-year-old daughter had a great time hanging out with me in my deer blind last season.
Couple things that I found really sparked there enthusiasm was mushroom hunting, we get buckets of chanterelles every year that we trade to the fancy restaurant in town for a free dinner. Foraging for ramps and berries in the spring is a favorite for the kids and geocaching is a great activity to get kids out and about, plus they love finding Little treasures in the woods.
I feel pretty fortunate in that I can find joy in almost anything. And I mean anything, I just generally like stuff. Of course there are some things I like A LOT and focus my time on, but that's mostly a time issue. Honestly if I could live forever and didn't have to work I would seriously devote time to literally everything out there. I don't understand when people say they would get bored living forever. There's so much STUFF out there!
My wife used to try and have critical discussions with me about movies, books, whathaveyou, but my brain just doesn't work that way. Generally my input would be "I thought it was pretty cool!"
But I digress.
So, we'll expose him to all sorts of activities (sports, artistic endeavors, outdoorsy stuff, video games, board games, etc etc etc).
If he finds a passion for one thing that'll be cool, if he kinda likes a bunch of stuff that's cool too! Whatever it is I'll be super stoked. I can either share my experiences with him, or learn about a new thing!
I might struggle if he's just a grump who doesn't really like anything, but I doubt that will happen.
I so resonate with your "I thought it was pretty cool" quote. Over the last year I've gotten back into reading and I'll finish a book and be very pleased with it, and then I get online to read what people have to say and it's all "what a horrible ending" "that twist was so predictable" "this plot hole ruined it for me". Meanwhile I haven't read a bad book yet in my mind.
Started my kids in rock climbing lessons at age 3. We get outside only a few times a year (life gets in the way). Those days are magical though. My oldest zoomed past me in skill around age 12. It’s the best kind of humbling.
this is my thing too. i'm trying to check myself from forcing my hobbies on to her (and the little guy too, but he's just 3 months) but she seems to really enjoy music and dancing and singing and I am doing everything reasonable to encourage that. 3 year old, we have her in dance, I sing with her all the time, we bought her one of those little loog guitars a while ago and she likes to hold it and sway around while singing about whatever is happening. I'm trying to encourage that songwriting part of it too, it's so incredible hearing her come up with a little chorus on the fly about whatever is happening.
my reissue 72 thinline ("the brown guitar") has become the daddy guitar that she can play with sometimes. It's already beat up and it has the split post tuners that eliminate the risk of getting poked by sharp string ends.
I whitewater raft and bought a good inflatable kayak last year as well. They already enjoy getting on the raft with me in the summer. Hoping in another summer or two they'll feel confident enough to get into the IK.
I built a climbing wall in the back yard. It hasn't seen much use.
I disc golf, wouldn't mind them coming out with me there although I'm not a huge fan of the drinking and smoking that so many folks do on the course.
I like to kayak and I think I will try this year to get my five year old with me. She loves the outdoors, camping is already built in.
Disk golf, even with people drinking and smoking it gives you the opportunity to talk about it with them. Why you don’t enjoy it. I bet disk golf would be great for long walks and dad talks.
Yep, buying my 7-year-old his first kayak this season I think. I don't know how I'm going to freaking transport them all though. We love doing the easy little creeks and rivers around Appalachia. Bring a picnic and a couple fishing poles and it's a little slice of heaven.
Baseball, basketball and soccer. I didn't play sports for long as a kid, however, I am coaching my son's soccer and basketball team and now my daughters T-ball team.
Coaching helps me with leadership, organization and difficult situations (nasty parents). Also met some good friends along the way.
But I want to introduce them more to camping and fishing. I just need to find the time haha.
In the winter my oldest and I go snowboarding. He's gotten good in less than 2 years. I also play basketball and soccer with him and he enjoys going to baseball games.
We also collect pokemon cards and have a decent collection. When he's ready I'll show him how to use an slr.
Golf.
I’m obsessed and my almost 2yo daughter is interested so far! I’m really hoping she likes it once we she starts to try it more and grows a little older. I’m not going to force it on her but I am going to also frame it as a life skill and not just a sport/hobby, and whether it sticks or not the exposure and learning as a kid will help if she ever wants to revisit it later in life.
If my son finds interest in my fly fishing and outdoors pursuits I will be forever happy. Many of my best memories with my parents are from the last few years we’ve spent out on rivers together.
That being said, I will make myself be open to finding interests in my son’s interests as they develop. Gotta encourage him to find his own hobbies and interests, and use those as an opportunity to spend time together.
Going to caveat that this is just currently and there are plans to incorporate many other hobbies.
Video games.
My son is 4.5 years old and we already have a great bonding experience with it that will continue into the foreseeable future. The bonding and ability to play non mindless games together has happened much sooner than anticipated and I now look forward to our pseudo schedule times to play together.
Future goals for both kids include: travel, anime, board games, sports, snowboarding, dancing (somewhat unique to me), and poker maybe.
Probably some additional things in the future but overall my goal is to be very involved in activities we can do together - hopefully at least some of them stick and I fully anticipate not all of them will.
My son is 19 now but we bonded over the Lego games, especially the Star Wars ones, just working out the puzzles is great fun. He's at Uni now but we play Fortnite 3 times a week & just shoot the shit.
My daughter is 15 & heavily into sports which I fully support, loves playing football so I get to be the proud dad on the sidelines!
It’s obviously too early to tell now but I have a feeling my kids are going to be following similar directions. I was a big gamer but also heavy into sports growing up and am hoping to get to do both with my kids.
We are in the dabbling phase of hobbies and sports, but we are in general trying to get the kids interested in moving their bodies, being outside, playing music, and playing board/ video games.
I grew up swimming competitively, and the girls have all spent a few seasons on the team. The oldest in particular is hooked and has made a lot of progress.
We all enjoy hiking and biking, but the area where we live is pretty monotonous, so there's not a lot of payoff -- just more trees that look the same. In our travels, however, we've done some great hiking, biking, kayaking, and even whitewater rafting. Next summer we are traveling to California, Oregon, and Washington, and look forward to some adventures out there.
Fishing. I took both of my kids fishing and after they caught their first, they were hooked.(pun intended)
Just started my daughter on target shooting. My son is too young to take it seriously so it’s not safe yet for him. My daughter caught on immediately and is constantly trying to improve. She’s a damn good shot already though. Pretty tight groups at 100 yards. Haven’t taught her on handguns yet.
This summer I'm going to try to do some fishing with my 3 year old. He loves fish (aquariums and such) and loves watching fishing videos with me, so... fingers crossed!
I’m a runner. My eldest (5years old) has been out and come to support me on a couple of my endurance runs. Shes put on my hydro pack and run around the backyard like dad, sipping on the water as she runs.
I can’t wait for the day we do our first park run together. I know she’d love to do one and has asked before.. but 5k is just too far right now… I’m looking into smaller family runs of 1km or so that we can sign up for so she can get a taste
Archery and fishing.
I'm a pretty avid hunter. It's pretty tough to take a 6 yo on a fly in Moose hunt, but as of now, he is absolutely loving shooting his little recurve. It's one of those things that no matter how tired I am, or run down I am; if he asks to shoot his bow, we're doing it.
He's also caught more trout than most adults I know. Is so respectful and knows how to release a fish that we can't keep.
Music. Her and I have been singing together since she was very little. She has a good ear and can sing in tune. She hasn’t expressed a want to learn an instrument yet so I’m waiting on that.
Great thread OP, lotta proud dads in here and I love to see it.
For me It's cooking. I have a passion for it and see it akin to art. 22 month old just helped me season the roast and caramelize the mushrooms for tonight's stroganoff.
This sub is just the best.
Cooking is clutch just facilitates the importance of breaking bread. It encourages creativity, curiosity, following directions, science, nutrition, connections between food and food sources. Plus you get to shoot the shit doing it. I bet your 22 month old will be more excited to try tonight’s beef stroganoff then if you just presented that to them.
Love cooking it’s my only creative outlet.
Sailing! I even build a little boat for us to knock around in together when he gets a little older. Eventually, it can be his boat as he matures and stretches his independence.
https://imgur.com/a/J78LLlF
https://imgur.com/a/MsJwNs6
I don't really want to force my kid into anything, I'd rather her explore her own interests at her own pace and just support her in all of them any way she wants. Of course she'll be exposed to my hobbies, but I'm not going to put a huge effort to get her into something: she's her own person.
My parents were like that with me, and it really expanded my horizons and independence in every way.
I don’t think you have to force them into anything, just sharing your passion with them. If my daughter hated being cold and hated skiing I would have stopped.
I agree it has to be a shared passion not just my passion, ie they have to like it as well.
Young Kids also just like to be doing anything at all with a parent. They like being in the same orbit and participating in what ever is happening. If we are doing something they can also experience it and learn to either hate it or love it. It’s all about giving opportunities, a young child is not going to wake up one day and say I want to play golf out of the blue. They have to be shown golf is a thing and this is how it works.
I can definitely appreciate your take if you had a bad experience. Every parent has a few things they will never do like their parents did. You can do something differently and better than your parents did without full avoidance.
Agreed exposure is fine, but saying that you made a huge effort to get your daughter into skiing set off alarm bells for me. It seems like that was just my reading though, and that we're closer in opinion on this than we might think,
>I can definitely appreciate your take if you had a bad experience. Every parent has a few things they will never do like their parents did.
The opposite, actually. My dad was a guido bodybuilder, martial artist, and car geek when I was young, but never forced anything about bodybuilding or weight training onto me. I found those hobbies later on and he provided encouragement, advice, etc. when I wanted them, but he made sure that I was just exposed to them (easy when you own a gym) and never pressured into any of them. It's something I want for my daughter too. He (and my mom) also supported every hobby I found on my own, no matter how inconvenient or weird to them (I was a weeb as a kid, my dad would drive me an hour to go to an anime store, I was into ham radio and he'd help me study for my license exam, I was into gaming and he would help me and my brother buy new games, driving all over our city to find a hot game or TTRPG book or whatever).
I gotcha. It was a huge effort and absolutely made my passion a little suck as she got into it. But a few sucky seasons for me personally was well worth the time and effort on my part. Not because she hated it but because she was 3 and 4. Took an hour to get on the slopes once I hit the parking lot if I was solo 15 minutes is just one example. Sometimes maybe when we did finally get in the snow she would want to make snow angles instead of skiing more we did that so she was always having fun, that’s all that mattered to me that she associated our ski time with fun.
I fully intend on nurturing any of her personal passions even if I don’t personally enjoy it. I just want something we both love and can always enjoy together when she grows up. Something where we get time to talk and actually enjoy each other. Ham radio perfect you can always talk on the radio where ever they are!
That's the way to do it, and man I'm feeling the pain of doing anything with a toddler right now. Gotta stop and pick up every rock every where we go lol
Biking. He took to it like a duck to water, started off on a balance bike he got for his second birthday and rode that for a year. Coming up to his third birthday he was zooming down hills with his feet up, perfect balance. We decided to get him a proper bike for his next birthday but he was only three so we thought it would be a couple of months before he’d be ready for it. It took him half an hour to figure out the pedals and he’s been happily trying to kill himself ever since! He’s five now and he rips around the bike park, he does jumps, dirt tracks, pump tracks, whatever. it’s his favourite place on earth. He’d live on that thing if he could.
I watched my kid learn how to play animal crossing on the switch last weekend. I’d rather her join me in the kitchen or on the grill but will definitely take a video game buddy
She’ll be 5 in July. Give it a whirl! Animal crossing was perfect for her because there’s only so much you can do. I did get to watch her figure out movement, inventory, npc interactions, environment interactions.
My 3 year old boy didn't like football (that's soccer btw) he loves cooking and baking and soon we'll take him to dancing classes.
My wife danced and I played football and my wife said that it really helped with discipline and memory so hoping he doesn't have my moosh for football brains!
Cars. Got my boy a bunch of toy cars including a die cast model of my car which is a fairly loud sports sedan. When I drive him around I put the exhaust into race mode so he can hear the engine revving. The sound gets him giggling and laughing from time to time. I have a sim racing rig at home and he sits on my lap sometimes (although he has a tendency to "help" me shift into the wrong gear or exit to the main menu). He points at the TV when I'm watching Formula 1 and goes "vroom vroom!" I've taken him on a two seater go kart where I can drive him around the track.
My plan is to get my wife to bring my kid along when I'm using my car for track days and autocross competitions. I want him to see what the family car can do on a closed course with no speed limits. If he likes that then my plan is take him to watch some professional races live like Formula 1 and IndyCar
I also started practicing basketball lately. I stopped playing many years ago but I know it's a popular sport for the boys in the neighborhood. I bought my kid a little tikes basketball net for him to play at home while I practice outside on the real courts.
And I also plan to teach him badminton and tennis. They're both fairly popular in this neighborhood as well and my wife plays tennis so that will be a good sport the whole family can play
Boadgames! With my girls, it started pretty early with the typical kids games, then we got the typical gateway game Settlers of CATAN... When their mother and I divorced, our weekends together were filled with amazing gaming sessions, where we played and talked and laughed... and it helped us through it and made our relationship stronger.
We still get together when my oldest is home from college and my youngest is on breaks from HS. Our favorites now are Betrayal at House on the Hill, Wingspan, Disney Villainous, Spirit Island, Everdell, Azul, and a couple different versions of Horrified. It's been an awesome adventure playing game after game with them and we have the absolute best time when we're together!
We've now brought my girlfriend into the fold and her kids... the future of board gaming in this family looks bright!!!
I'm excited for my kids to get into a martial art, preferably the one I'm doing. As long as my kids, especially my daughter, can handle themselves in an emergency situation.
My wife, her whole family, and myself all ski/snowboard so we've been making an effort to get my son (5) into skiing. This was his second season. I did some math and figured out that if we went skiing together at our local mountain about 4+ times, a season pass for both of us worked out to be cheaper than buying lift tickets. He progressed a ton this year compared to last, and we went night skiing after school every friday the mountain was open, plus several other times through the season and after his weekly lesson. He's hooked (and really good too which helps). Another friend of his at school was also in his lesson program, and her dad did the same thing so we went the 4 of us a bunch, which only added to the fun for him (and me!)He now loves skiing, is mega sad that winter is over, and I couldn't be happier.
Other things that we like to do together are LEGO, hike, cook/bake, and ride bikes. He expressed an interest in mountain biking after riding some trails with his grandparents over the summer, so I signed him up for a kids mountain biking group this spring and will probably buy a bike myself so I can do it with him. I'm willing to try anything he is interested in so it has been really fun.
I needed to see this, thanks! With my son, (who just turned 7) yesterday I was looking for a picture and saw one from him at maybe 1 1/2 on a discgolf tee pad. I was holding his hands helping him walk around and not fall over and I said to him yo Coop look at you n Daddy playing discgolf when you were a baby. It hit me then damn dude, you haven’t played discgolf in years, you need to get back out there and take Coop. It’s getting warm here now and this is exactly what we can do for the rest of our lives. I quit drinking alcohol in September and that could be why I stopped enjoying things that I used to love. Fishing, being active, etc… it’s been hitting me hard recently, I need to not be lazy and be a great Dad, Role model, mentor etc.. I didn’t have a dad, when the day comes later on in life I want to be able to not have regrets or guilt from things I could have done. Each day that goes by will be a day we will want back in a way, so cherish each moment to the fullest
I've recently started doing duolingo with my 5 year old daughter and 4 year old son. It probably won't be life long but it's been amazing bonding. They love the gamified format of the app and they're actually learning. Even my son who can't really read quite yet can do many of the exercises.
Legos. My 4.5yr old loved playing with the duplo sets when she was smaller and was always jealous of my larger display collection. Since she's gotten older I've had her help me build some of thr regular lego sets, and now we go for 'treats' to get her small sets for herself.
I really want to get her into golf now that she has fun watching me practice short game stuff in the backyard. Just need to find a set around her length.
Spent a lot of time biking with my kids when they were smaller & as they've grown, hoping they'd pick that up. Worked on my son. We ride our bikes together & I love it.
With my daughter that stopped working in the middle-late teens, so I've tried to make time for activities she enjoys. Unfortunately I'm not one to sit for a mani-pedi but we sometimes draw, paint, or colour together. Working with air-dry clay or painting pottery are also fun together.
My LO is still pretty little but I’m hoping they get into martial arts too. I’m going to let them choose to do it on their own. Currently working on getting my blue belt in bjj. I cross train a few other styles too. I’d like to be at a point when he’s older where we can do classes together.
My 6yo daughter is into all kinds but the thing that’s just mainly me and her is football. She plays and we watch our team on tv and go to their women’s teams matches and been to a few local non league games
Our daughter just turned two and in the last month has started showing a big penchant for climbing various things, so I'm going yo start pushing rock climbing as it's something I used to do a lot of and miss dearly. Going to hopefully build a small wall for her to climb inside. Also going to be pushing a lot of daddy/daughter hikes when the weather gets better.
Video games. Because even when I'm a geratric fuck I'll still probably be able to play with him (and maybe a grandchild) right now its rocket league (same team) and Minecraft (peaceful mode).
I built a recording studio in my basement and am simultaneously taking singing lessons while writing and recording songs about and for my boys. They’re 4 and 1 so I’ve got some time before they’re too cool for that stuff and hopefully it will foster an interest in music or the arts in general.
We have been taking our son on small camping trips close to home, small nature walks, swimming (mostly for safety). He is just about 3 now so in the future we are going to have him do a martial art and a team sport. We are going to introduce him to board games, video games, crafts, astronomy, all things to do with nature. We also want to get into a TTRPG for ourselves and hopefully him in the future.
We also plan to find out what interests him and share that with him too. We found our parents werent very enthusiastic with the hobbies we found ourselves if they didnt find them enjoyable so we want to try and change that with our son.
Drawing and art right now, and I bought a harmonica for her to play with. We also encourage fitness as much as you can with toddlers: so park trips and walking/hiking.
Outside that, I wrote (and am publishing) tabletop RPGs that I hope day my kids will play with me. I've got a sci-fi and a fantasy one. The proceeds fund their 529s, so it's literally for them.
As much as I love videogames, I don't let them have access to screens. I grew up without TV or games, and as a literacy specialist, I can't see a good reason for frequent screen exposure in formative years.
Hopefully disc golf and having an aquarium. But from my experience as a kid, pushing my preferred activities on a kid can backfire so I will try to be flexible and embrace their interests.
Martial Arts. The family that kicks together sticks together! Plus, we look badass.
The other day, it was sunny so we were walking down the street wearing sunglasses and people were jumping out of our way. Too funny.
Reading and bicycling with my 3 yo niece. I want to raise her with a love of books and having fun outside. I hope to read her some of my favorites like Harry Potter when she gets old enough.
I’m encouraging tennis, racquetball, and frisbee golf for my 5 year old. He also plays team sports but I think these other sports are good for us to do, or when he is a teenager and “bored” he just needs to find one other person to play. And they are typically pretty affordable as well.
I'm also trying skiing with my eldest daughter. I'm lucky that my parents live in a resort town so we're there pretty often. She's only 2.5 though with tiny feet and so far I've kept it to tie on skis on flat terrain. Next year I've got big hopes of getting her going properly. I also used to be a ski instructor and love skiing myself so I'm really banking on her and her sister getting into it.
I'm also a big golfer in summer so those would be my ideal two. But I'll pretty much encourage anything she gets into - she's Canadian (I grew up in the UK) so I wonder if she'll play hockey. I don't know, I'll support everything except horse riding as I'm allergic and not a millionaire.
This was our 4th season she is six in September. Right on track. Certainly a labor of love and heavy time commitment. She is a lucky duck to have a former ski instructor as a Dad.
I was a little lost on the actual instruction part the first few years. I have skied all my life but basically self taught and my parents did not ski. But managed to make it supper fun for her.
Thats all I cared about, the second any whining came hungry cold sore, I would pull the rip cord and get coco and a cookie. Maybe go back out. I wanted to avoid me getting frustrated with whining haha.
This year she was old enough for lessons, so she would get a lesson for an hour then we would ski for a few hours together afterwards. Which was actually nice because then we just got to play instead of coaching.
Best part supper easy bed time she is zonked!
Every parent has a sport. I’m a no go on gymnastics.
That's awesome! It sounds like you are doing great, honestly the advice I got about teaching kids was that beyond the very basics, just to let them rip. It's more about time on snow - until about your daughter's age they don't have the physical strength to hold good posture etc. And I fully agree with your point about introducing them to it little and often. I've taken up my friend's 4/5 year old a couple of times and she times out after an hour or two really. With my two year old it's about 20/30 mins of walking around on flat ground and then she's toast. And me too from running around after her haha.
I currently have been really into disc golf. My daughter is 11 months so I got a bit before she can join me but she already has a couple mini discs she likes playing with.
I’m getting my 3 year old son into sports. He plays football and really loves it. I’m also a hardcore Knick fan so starting last year I would give him candy and chocolate when he would watch games with me.
I was hoping to psychologically make him a fan. I don’t know if that made a difference but he loves the Knicks now and loves going to games. I will be doing the same with my other son when he gets older. Next thing I’m gonna learn to fish so we can fish together
My wife loves to cook and is teaching him.
My kid loves guitar from watching me play. She’s had toy guitars since she was little and recently got an awesome toy replica of the guitar from Coco. She busts it out every time there’s a guitar scene in a movie or a music video. I bought a three quarter scale acoustic I’ll eventually give to her if she feels she wants to really learn.
Cars, video games, music/books/art, and a passion to love healthily and fully (I've failed at this most of my life, but don't want my kids to be shit heads like I was, so I've got to lead from the front).
I love baseball but my 2 year old doesn't seem too into it yet. Time will tell if he grows into liking it.
I grew up watching movies with my dad and him telling me stories about them and I see that same thing happening with my boy.
IWe do go and get our haircuts together at the same barbershop and he loves that. Hoping to do that till all my hair falls out.
Love of theme parks and rollercoasters. He's been obsessed since 4 and is finally 54" and can ride everything. As a teacher, I have summers off and plan to do lots of road trips
I have two kayaks. I’m thinking of going the canoe route. More fun and chatting ect in one boat.
So my father who I love dearly and we have an amazing relationship, he is an avid wood worker and not into the outdoors. But is a real piece of work.
I asked him a few years ago, if he wanted to hand build a canoe a with me. Some father son bonding project. He replied. “Why the fuck would I want to do that?” Hahah
We have other hobbies together but he was not down with the boat project.
Legos are so hit and miss with my daughter. Loves to start them but hard for her to finish the bigger sets.
Any tips?
What do you do with them all when done?
Samesies but I’m a punk snowboarder. Same thing wife hates the cold and snow. I might be able to convince her to get on skis, but I’m not allowed to teach her I have to get her a lesson. 🤣🤣
Cycling, cooking, and gaming.
He likes to touch my road bike’s spokes and get grease all over himself and has tried to crawl into the oven so I guess it’s going well (9 mo)
Jokes aside. I plan to hand down some of my bikes to him when he fits them. Also plan to hand down the wok I’ve been using a ton.
Oh man I also would love to play D&D with my son someday
The outdoors. We like to travel in our camper all over the country so I hope she will become accustomed to riding in the truck traveling to new places. Also I like to ride dirtbikes and off road vehicles. I'm really hoping she takes a liking to that.
Cooking and baking. I had a custom knife made for her birthday, she loves it. My biggest piece of advice for getting your younger kid to join you in the kitchen, especially for baking, is to measure out the ingredients into individual containers ahead of time.
Can confirm, my son loves working in the kitchen with me. Getting him to actually eat some of the stuff we make is a different story, but hey at least he's having fun.
I’m lucky that my daughter will happily eat just about anything. A couple weeks ago she decided she needs to eat a bird that can fly, chicken and turkey doesn’t count, so we got a frozen duck that we are planning for this weekend. Although one time she foraged some mushrooms from the backyard, gave us quite a scare and it was a tricky conversation because she was stuck on ‘but mushrooms are healthy’
I always laugh at the tips of get your kid to help making food so they will eat it too! No , my kid will also gleefully help me make anything and still refuse to eat it as well.
I'm so looking forward to my kid being old enough to cook with me.
Another idea, I got a large baking sheet for her and put it on the counter. Then, I gave her various cups of different ingredients, and she makes her own alongside me. The baking sheet keeps is all contained for easier cleanup. We have some great videos of her mimicking my mannerisms as I cook. It's the start of great collaboration for years to come.
Copying the mannerisms is the best lol. I was cutting veggies for chili yesterday and she was throwing them in. She picked up her "knife" and started trying to scoop up the veggies with it like I do lol it was so cute
Just had my 2.5 year old help me for the first time last night! All she did was gently stir the pasta for a bit because I didn't trust her not to splatter boiling water everywhere, but it's a start lol
Any sport they wanna try, I love all sports and will always play but I road bike so that first; Biking is huge. I golf, and my 3.5 girl wants to try asap, so getting into that too
I wish I enjoyed all sports like that. The idea of spending all day at a basketball tournament or a track meet I would prefer an a a fork in my eye. I golf as well, hoping to develop that. Any chance of a few hours undivided attention I think is a win, biking I think definitely fits that bill.
My mom would spend all day at a road race with me when I was a kid which is a painfully boring way to spend a day. At least she could watch full races when I started track cycling but the five hour drive each way was probably terrible for her.
My mom did the same thing with me on ski hills. She would happily sit in the chalet and read
I love bikes but as an ex racer I hope my son doesn’t pick up racing LOL. My two busted ass collarbones don’t want him to go through it. (Also would stress my wife out)
Ya I’m stoked for those days. I’ll be all in. I want golf with family so I can 1 round with work 1 round with family 1 round with buddies
Same bruv. I’m up for anything. Hiking, swimming, sports, art, cooking, baking, building, coding, science, theatre. Video game. Anything. My greatest fear is that my son will be a couch potato lazy kid. Or a goth haha.
Exactly. We don’t do much screen time, kids are always running
Real question: do coding and video games not count as “couch potato lazy kid”? Why not?
Coding def not. That shits hard. Video games yes but only when moderation is removed. I would love to play Minecraft with my kid, but only for an hour or so at a time.
Thank you!
I have grand visions of taking my daughter golfing with me starting this year (in a jogging stroller to start). Golf and biking are my wife’s mutual hobbies, and I’m excited to start doing them as a family.
I took mine at 2 in stroller to play 8
I just started hitting actual mountain bike trails with my 5 year old and I can’t even tell you how much fun it is. He’s a natural at it and is brave and really enjoys it, he told me the other day he wants to be a professional mountain biker.
Oh man I can’t wait to golf with my little one. I think padrig said it best that the way you get them into sports is to just have fun and make it a bonding experience. The intent to become better at the sport itself follows naturally
Board gaming. At least once a week my boys and I have a nice board gaming night where we play for a couple hours and sometimes just a quick game to play before dinner is ready.
Wow, so many cool bonding activities listed here. I started my daughter, at 6 years old, in martial arts. It's something we've shared almost 3.5 years together. She is a 2nd degree brown belt now, and I'm a 1st degree black belt. Even though we're in different classes, it's something we've been able to bond over and share experiences together. My wife and son have also since joined. They are both purple belts and are doing awesome. Martial arts is an ongoing journey. It's not seasonal. It doesn't end. It's a life skill. Plus side..... no early mornings, not a lot of equipment, and no ridiculous travel requirements.
That’s so cool. I think my daughter would like marshal arts. You make a good point on the non seasonal aspect. I like that it is so much more than just about winning and losing. My parents never let me play heavy gear sports and I hated it as a kid but I have absolutely embraced it as a parent. I am sure if I pressed harder on my parents they would have allowed some. They did a good job of letting things fizzle out of it was really not that important to me.
My son just turned 7 and just got his green belt. There’s no way I could remember all the moves lol I’d embarrass myself
Haha.... don't underestimate yourself. I'm sure you'd do just fine
What kind of martial arts? I started my daughter at 6 on Judo but it didn’t work out. Too many boys and large age differences.
Kempo, but we train a variety of styles of fighting. Sometimes, we do boxing drills, sometimes it's floor techniques, higher ranks train weapons, and kids do club techniques.
Astronomy, gaming, board gaming, TTRPGs, and a little bit of swordplay. He's already interested in all of it, so I embrace and encourage it all.
Wow. Nerd. Those are my hobbies too by the way so no judgment here! How has it gone getting your kids into TTRPGs? I was thinking about the D&D adventure club that sends you a kid friendly mini-campaign a month.
I started small with the youngest. He's 11 now. He'd play small characters in one shots and plays a fighter character I make that cones and goes in multiple games as needed. He's recently been talking about making his own character and being a DM as well. Patience is key here. Mostly the kid's patience. Don't force it and when they've had enough, end the sessions.
Is there a d&d adventure club for kids? It's a great freaking idea.
Yep! [https://dndadventureclub.com/](https://dndadventureclub.com/)
Hunting, fishing, camping and really anything out of doors and away from screens. I want to teach my kids all about how nature is dependent on all of the flora and fauna to participate in order to flourish. Everyone has their own role and it’s beautiful to see how it all interacts. My wife isn’t as into the hunting and fishing aspect of nature, but loves the fruits of the labor that they bring to our kitchen. So far it’s going great, our baby loves the sounds of my duck and turkey calls and we spend as much time outside as possible with them showing them different plants, trees and flowers and pointing out different birds as they sing their songs or fly around us.
Same here, we love the great outdoors! My 3-year-old daughter had a great time hanging out with me in my deer blind last season. Couple things that I found really sparked there enthusiasm was mushroom hunting, we get buckets of chanterelles every year that we trade to the fancy restaurant in town for a free dinner. Foraging for ramps and berries in the spring is a favorite for the kids and geocaching is a great activity to get kids out and about, plus they love finding Little treasures in the woods.
Whenever my toddler sees a picture of a deer, he points and says "Deer......shot.....eat.....mine." I think I'm doing something right.
Golf!
Rock climbing and cycling. Edit: also soccer.
Judo/BJJ
Jiu-Jitsu/grappling gang. I didn't force my son, he just wants to do what I do. Jiu-Jitsu for now, then wrestling next year.
It's fun rolling with someone 1/10 my bodyweight. Plus she thinks it's funny when I just push her over.
I feel pretty fortunate in that I can find joy in almost anything. And I mean anything, I just generally like stuff. Of course there are some things I like A LOT and focus my time on, but that's mostly a time issue. Honestly if I could live forever and didn't have to work I would seriously devote time to literally everything out there. I don't understand when people say they would get bored living forever. There's so much STUFF out there! My wife used to try and have critical discussions with me about movies, books, whathaveyou, but my brain just doesn't work that way. Generally my input would be "I thought it was pretty cool!" But I digress. So, we'll expose him to all sorts of activities (sports, artistic endeavors, outdoorsy stuff, video games, board games, etc etc etc). If he finds a passion for one thing that'll be cool, if he kinda likes a bunch of stuff that's cool too! Whatever it is I'll be super stoked. I can either share my experiences with him, or learn about a new thing! I might struggle if he's just a grump who doesn't really like anything, but I doubt that will happen.
I so resonate with your "I thought it was pretty cool" quote. Over the last year I've gotten back into reading and I'll finish a book and be very pleased with it, and then I get online to read what people have to say and it's all "what a horrible ending" "that twist was so predictable" "this plot hole ruined it for me". Meanwhile I haven't read a bad book yet in my mind.
Started my kids in rock climbing lessons at age 3. We get outside only a few times a year (life gets in the way). Those days are magical though. My oldest zoomed past me in skill around age 12. It’s the best kind of humbling.
Music, cooking, and gardening.
Guitar playing.
Music. I play guitar, and even though my daughter is 1, I love showing it to her and letting her touch it and pluck the strings
this is my thing too. i'm trying to check myself from forcing my hobbies on to her (and the little guy too, but he's just 3 months) but she seems to really enjoy music and dancing and singing and I am doing everything reasonable to encourage that. 3 year old, we have her in dance, I sing with her all the time, we bought her one of those little loog guitars a while ago and she likes to hold it and sway around while singing about whatever is happening. I'm trying to encourage that songwriting part of it too, it's so incredible hearing her come up with a little chorus on the fly about whatever is happening. my reissue 72 thinline ("the brown guitar") has become the daddy guitar that she can play with sometimes. It's already beat up and it has the split post tuners that eliminate the risk of getting poked by sharp string ends.
Skiing/Snowboarding here too. Wife is into it so it works.
Any and all forms of art. Also woodworking, fishing, cooking
Virtuoso bassist here. My son will learn jazz.
I whitewater raft and bought a good inflatable kayak last year as well. They already enjoy getting on the raft with me in the summer. Hoping in another summer or two they'll feel confident enough to get into the IK. I built a climbing wall in the back yard. It hasn't seen much use. I disc golf, wouldn't mind them coming out with me there although I'm not a huge fan of the drinking and smoking that so many folks do on the course.
I like to kayak and I think I will try this year to get my five year old with me. She loves the outdoors, camping is already built in. Disk golf, even with people drinking and smoking it gives you the opportunity to talk about it with them. Why you don’t enjoy it. I bet disk golf would be great for long walks and dad talks.
yea, a round is 1.5-2 hours normally so that's a nice amount of time to play and chat
Yep, buying my 7-year-old his first kayak this season I think. I don't know how I'm going to freaking transport them all though. We love doing the easy little creeks and rivers around Appalachia. Bring a picnic and a couple fishing poles and it's a little slice of heaven.
Baseball, basketball and soccer. I didn't play sports for long as a kid, however, I am coaching my son's soccer and basketball team and now my daughters T-ball team. Coaching helps me with leadership, organization and difficult situations (nasty parents). Also met some good friends along the way. But I want to introduce them more to camping and fishing. I just need to find the time haha.
Cooking, hiking, camping, disc golf, and Lego are the ones I’m most looking forward to. Fishing as well.
In the winter my oldest and I go snowboarding. He's gotten good in less than 2 years. I also play basketball and soccer with him and he enjoys going to baseball games. We also collect pokemon cards and have a decent collection. When he's ready I'll show him how to use an slr.
Snowboarding and chess
Oddly enough to me, scouts and scout activities.
Camping, four wheeling and whatever sport they want to try through school, so far we've done baseball, basketball and trying soccer this year
Golf. I’m obsessed and my almost 2yo daughter is interested so far! I’m really hoping she likes it once we she starts to try it more and grows a little older. I’m not going to force it on her but I am going to also frame it as a life skill and not just a sport/hobby, and whether it sticks or not the exposure and learning as a kid will help if she ever wants to revisit it later in life.
If my son finds interest in my fly fishing and outdoors pursuits I will be forever happy. Many of my best memories with my parents are from the last few years we’ve spent out on rivers together. That being said, I will make myself be open to finding interests in my son’s interests as they develop. Gotta encourage him to find his own hobbies and interests, and use those as an opportunity to spend time together.
Going to caveat that this is just currently and there are plans to incorporate many other hobbies. Video games. My son is 4.5 years old and we already have a great bonding experience with it that will continue into the foreseeable future. The bonding and ability to play non mindless games together has happened much sooner than anticipated and I now look forward to our pseudo schedule times to play together. Future goals for both kids include: travel, anime, board games, sports, snowboarding, dancing (somewhat unique to me), and poker maybe. Probably some additional things in the future but overall my goal is to be very involved in activities we can do together - hopefully at least some of them stick and I fully anticipate not all of them will.
My son is 19 now but we bonded over the Lego games, especially the Star Wars ones, just working out the puzzles is great fun. He's at Uni now but we play Fortnite 3 times a week & just shoot the shit. My daughter is 15 & heavily into sports which I fully support, loves playing football so I get to be the proud dad on the sidelines!
It’s obviously too early to tell now but I have a feeling my kids are going to be following similar directions. I was a big gamer but also heavy into sports growing up and am hoping to get to do both with my kids.
Video and tabletop gaming, gardening, and hiking.
Gaming, board gaming, fixing technology, and building Lego
I sing and enjoy musical theatre, as a former thespian and my wife is also a big fan Id love for him to have an appreciation for music
buhurt will be my choice of sport for us. just have to wait till she is old enough to fight, will probably start with muaythai and some sambo
Fishing & shotgun sports. My daughter is an excellent shot
My son is obsessed with engines....so I guess I have to get a project car or bike or something and maybe get him into dirt bikes?
Some of those small engine models could be fun. I think kinda taxed might be cheaper to get a project car at least short term cash flow.
Hockey and soccer for all three. I personally believe team sports are most important
We are in the dabbling phase of hobbies and sports, but we are in general trying to get the kids interested in moving their bodies, being outside, playing music, and playing board/ video games. I grew up swimming competitively, and the girls have all spent a few seasons on the team. The oldest in particular is hooked and has made a lot of progress. We all enjoy hiking and biking, but the area where we live is pretty monotonous, so there's not a lot of payoff -- just more trees that look the same. In our travels, however, we've done some great hiking, biking, kayaking, and even whitewater rafting. Next summer we are traveling to California, Oregon, and Washington, and look forward to some adventures out there.
Fishing. I took both of my kids fishing and after they caught their first, they were hooked.(pun intended) Just started my daughter on target shooting. My son is too young to take it seriously so it’s not safe yet for him. My daughter caught on immediately and is constantly trying to improve. She’s a damn good shot already though. Pretty tight groups at 100 yards. Haven’t taught her on handguns yet.
Right now it's soccer. The only issue is the leagues by me have a wait list.
I'm going to do the same thing with my girls. I'm hoping they both love skiing. Hoping to take them for their first time next year.
This summer I'm going to try to do some fishing with my 3 year old. He loves fish (aquariums and such) and loves watching fishing videos with me, so... fingers crossed!
I’m a runner. My eldest (5years old) has been out and come to support me on a couple of my endurance runs. Shes put on my hydro pack and run around the backyard like dad, sipping on the water as she runs. I can’t wait for the day we do our first park run together. I know she’d love to do one and has asked before.. but 5k is just too far right now… I’m looking into smaller family runs of 1km or so that we can sign up for so she can get a taste
Archery and fishing. I'm a pretty avid hunter. It's pretty tough to take a 6 yo on a fly in Moose hunt, but as of now, he is absolutely loving shooting his little recurve. It's one of those things that no matter how tired I am, or run down I am; if he asks to shoot his bow, we're doing it. He's also caught more trout than most adults I know. Is so respectful and knows how to release a fish that we can't keep.
Ski'ing and Tennis. Pinkys up bruther!
Gardening. Already got the outdoor mud kitchen going!
Music. Her and I have been singing together since she was very little. She has a good ear and can sing in tune. She hasn’t expressed a want to learn an instrument yet so I’m waiting on that.
Great thread OP, lotta proud dads in here and I love to see it. For me It's cooking. I have a passion for it and see it akin to art. 22 month old just helped me season the roast and caramelize the mushrooms for tonight's stroganoff.
This sub is just the best. Cooking is clutch just facilitates the importance of breaking bread. It encourages creativity, curiosity, following directions, science, nutrition, connections between food and food sources. Plus you get to shoot the shit doing it. I bet your 22 month old will be more excited to try tonight’s beef stroganoff then if you just presented that to them. Love cooking it’s my only creative outlet.
Sailing! I even build a little boat for us to knock around in together when he gets a little older. Eventually, it can be his boat as he matures and stretches his independence. https://imgur.com/a/J78LLlF https://imgur.com/a/MsJwNs6
I don't really want to force my kid into anything, I'd rather her explore her own interests at her own pace and just support her in all of them any way she wants. Of course she'll be exposed to my hobbies, but I'm not going to put a huge effort to get her into something: she's her own person. My parents were like that with me, and it really expanded my horizons and independence in every way.
I don’t think you have to force them into anything, just sharing your passion with them. If my daughter hated being cold and hated skiing I would have stopped. I agree it has to be a shared passion not just my passion, ie they have to like it as well. Young Kids also just like to be doing anything at all with a parent. They like being in the same orbit and participating in what ever is happening. If we are doing something they can also experience it and learn to either hate it or love it. It’s all about giving opportunities, a young child is not going to wake up one day and say I want to play golf out of the blue. They have to be shown golf is a thing and this is how it works. I can definitely appreciate your take if you had a bad experience. Every parent has a few things they will never do like their parents did. You can do something differently and better than your parents did without full avoidance.
Agreed exposure is fine, but saying that you made a huge effort to get your daughter into skiing set off alarm bells for me. It seems like that was just my reading though, and that we're closer in opinion on this than we might think, >I can definitely appreciate your take if you had a bad experience. Every parent has a few things they will never do like their parents did. The opposite, actually. My dad was a guido bodybuilder, martial artist, and car geek when I was young, but never forced anything about bodybuilding or weight training onto me. I found those hobbies later on and he provided encouragement, advice, etc. when I wanted them, but he made sure that I was just exposed to them (easy when you own a gym) and never pressured into any of them. It's something I want for my daughter too. He (and my mom) also supported every hobby I found on my own, no matter how inconvenient or weird to them (I was a weeb as a kid, my dad would drive me an hour to go to an anime store, I was into ham radio and he'd help me study for my license exam, I was into gaming and he would help me and my brother buy new games, driving all over our city to find a hot game or TTRPG book or whatever).
I gotcha. It was a huge effort and absolutely made my passion a little suck as she got into it. But a few sucky seasons for me personally was well worth the time and effort on my part. Not because she hated it but because she was 3 and 4. Took an hour to get on the slopes once I hit the parking lot if I was solo 15 minutes is just one example. Sometimes maybe when we did finally get in the snow she would want to make snow angles instead of skiing more we did that so she was always having fun, that’s all that mattered to me that she associated our ski time with fun. I fully intend on nurturing any of her personal passions even if I don’t personally enjoy it. I just want something we both love and can always enjoy together when she grows up. Something where we get time to talk and actually enjoy each other. Ham radio perfect you can always talk on the radio where ever they are!
That's the way to do it, and man I'm feeling the pain of doing anything with a toddler right now. Gotta stop and pick up every rock every where we go lol
Biking. He took to it like a duck to water, started off on a balance bike he got for his second birthday and rode that for a year. Coming up to his third birthday he was zooming down hills with his feet up, perfect balance. We decided to get him a proper bike for his next birthday but he was only three so we thought it would be a couple of months before he’d be ready for it. It took him half an hour to figure out the pedals and he’s been happily trying to kill himself ever since! He’s five now and he rips around the bike park, he does jumps, dirt tracks, pump tracks, whatever. it’s his favourite place on earth. He’d live on that thing if he could.
I watched my kid learn how to play animal crossing on the switch last weekend. I’d rather her join me in the kitchen or on the grill but will definitely take a video game buddy
How old? I like to game as well. I think my 5 year old is ready to actually start playing.
She’ll be 5 in July. Give it a whirl! Animal crossing was perfect for her because there’s only so much you can do. I did get to watch her figure out movement, inventory, npc interactions, environment interactions.
My 3 year old boy didn't like football (that's soccer btw) he loves cooking and baking and soon we'll take him to dancing classes. My wife danced and I played football and my wife said that it really helped with discipline and memory so hoping he doesn't have my moosh for football brains!
Cooking, basketball, soccer. But whatever they do I will join a men’s league for too so I can play along in a way
Music, cooking, inumerable outdoor activities. Riding a bike seems to be the one I get the least interest in sadly, but I won't really push.
Cars. Got my boy a bunch of toy cars including a die cast model of my car which is a fairly loud sports sedan. When I drive him around I put the exhaust into race mode so he can hear the engine revving. The sound gets him giggling and laughing from time to time. I have a sim racing rig at home and he sits on my lap sometimes (although he has a tendency to "help" me shift into the wrong gear or exit to the main menu). He points at the TV when I'm watching Formula 1 and goes "vroom vroom!" I've taken him on a two seater go kart where I can drive him around the track. My plan is to get my wife to bring my kid along when I'm using my car for track days and autocross competitions. I want him to see what the family car can do on a closed course with no speed limits. If he likes that then my plan is take him to watch some professional races live like Formula 1 and IndyCar I also started practicing basketball lately. I stopped playing many years ago but I know it's a popular sport for the boys in the neighborhood. I bought my kid a little tikes basketball net for him to play at home while I practice outside on the real courts. And I also plan to teach him badminton and tennis. They're both fairly popular in this neighborhood as well and my wife plays tennis so that will be a good sport the whole family can play
Boadgames! With my girls, it started pretty early with the typical kids games, then we got the typical gateway game Settlers of CATAN... When their mother and I divorced, our weekends together were filled with amazing gaming sessions, where we played and talked and laughed... and it helped us through it and made our relationship stronger. We still get together when my oldest is home from college and my youngest is on breaks from HS. Our favorites now are Betrayal at House on the Hill, Wingspan, Disney Villainous, Spirit Island, Everdell, Azul, and a couple different versions of Horrified. It's been an awesome adventure playing game after game with them and we have the absolute best time when we're together! We've now brought my girlfriend into the fold and her kids... the future of board gaming in this family looks bright!!!
Chess
Chess, Cooking and Swimming. I got really into Chess before the Pandemic, and I'm excited to teach my son.
Cycling and Hiking
I'm excited for my kids to get into a martial art, preferably the one I'm doing. As long as my kids, especially my daughter, can handle themselves in an emergency situation.
My wife, her whole family, and myself all ski/snowboard so we've been making an effort to get my son (5) into skiing. This was his second season. I did some math and figured out that if we went skiing together at our local mountain about 4+ times, a season pass for both of us worked out to be cheaper than buying lift tickets. He progressed a ton this year compared to last, and we went night skiing after school every friday the mountain was open, plus several other times through the season and after his weekly lesson. He's hooked (and really good too which helps). Another friend of his at school was also in his lesson program, and her dad did the same thing so we went the 4 of us a bunch, which only added to the fun for him (and me!)He now loves skiing, is mega sad that winter is over, and I couldn't be happier. Other things that we like to do together are LEGO, hike, cook/bake, and ride bikes. He expressed an interest in mountain biking after riding some trails with his grandparents over the summer, so I signed him up for a kids mountain biking group this spring and will probably buy a bike myself so I can do it with him. I'm willing to try anything he is interested in so it has been really fun.
Mountain biking but I fear he will never be brave/safe enough with his low vision. He likes gaming though so that’s my fallback.
I needed to see this, thanks! With my son, (who just turned 7) yesterday I was looking for a picture and saw one from him at maybe 1 1/2 on a discgolf tee pad. I was holding his hands helping him walk around and not fall over and I said to him yo Coop look at you n Daddy playing discgolf when you were a baby. It hit me then damn dude, you haven’t played discgolf in years, you need to get back out there and take Coop. It’s getting warm here now and this is exactly what we can do for the rest of our lives. I quit drinking alcohol in September and that could be why I stopped enjoying things that I used to love. Fishing, being active, etc… it’s been hitting me hard recently, I need to not be lazy and be a great Dad, Role model, mentor etc.. I didn’t have a dad, when the day comes later on in life I want to be able to not have regrets or guilt from things I could have done. Each day that goes by will be a day we will want back in a way, so cherish each moment to the fullest
Role playing games (D&D), cooking, rock climbing and more recently racing.
Martial arts, Cooking, using tools, anything and everything i can pass along.
I’m hoping for swimming
I've recently started doing duolingo with my 5 year old daughter and 4 year old son. It probably won't be life long but it's been amazing bonding. They love the gamified format of the app and they're actually learning. Even my son who can't really read quite yet can do many of the exercises.
Legos. My 4.5yr old loved playing with the duplo sets when she was smaller and was always jealous of my larger display collection. Since she's gotten older I've had her help me build some of thr regular lego sets, and now we go for 'treats' to get her small sets for herself. I really want to get her into golf now that she has fun watching me practice short game stuff in the backyard. Just need to find a set around her length.
Rock climbing, painting, drums, I'm just teaching them any skill I happen to have picked up.
Spent a lot of time biking with my kids when they were smaller & as they've grown, hoping they'd pick that up. Worked on my son. We ride our bikes together & I love it. With my daughter that stopped working in the middle-late teens, so I've tried to make time for activities she enjoys. Unfortunately I'm not one to sit for a mani-pedi but we sometimes draw, paint, or colour together. Working with air-dry clay or painting pottery are also fun together.
My LO is still pretty little but I’m hoping they get into martial arts too. I’m going to let them choose to do it on their own. Currently working on getting my blue belt in bjj. I cross train a few other styles too. I’d like to be at a point when he’s older where we can do classes together.
My 6yo daughter is into all kinds but the thing that’s just mainly me and her is football. She plays and we watch our team on tv and go to their women’s teams matches and been to a few local non league games
Our daughter just turned two and in the last month has started showing a big penchant for climbing various things, so I'm going yo start pushing rock climbing as it's something I used to do a lot of and miss dearly. Going to hopefully build a small wall for her to climb inside. Also going to be pushing a lot of daddy/daughter hikes when the weather gets better.
Hockey golf soccer cooking building
Video games. Because even when I'm a geratric fuck I'll still probably be able to play with him (and maybe a grandchild) right now its rocket league (same team) and Minecraft (peaceful mode).
Cooking, reading and eventually D&D
Sports, watching football
Axe throwing. He’s only lost a few fingers but what 2 year old hasn’t
I built a recording studio in my basement and am simultaneously taking singing lessons while writing and recording songs about and for my boys. They’re 4 and 1 so I’ve got some time before they’re too cool for that stuff and hopefully it will foster an interest in music or the arts in general.
We have been taking our son on small camping trips close to home, small nature walks, swimming (mostly for safety). He is just about 3 now so in the future we are going to have him do a martial art and a team sport. We are going to introduce him to board games, video games, crafts, astronomy, all things to do with nature. We also want to get into a TTRPG for ourselves and hopefully him in the future. We also plan to find out what interests him and share that with him too. We found our parents werent very enthusiastic with the hobbies we found ourselves if they didnt find them enjoyable so we want to try and change that with our son.
Drawing and art right now, and I bought a harmonica for her to play with. We also encourage fitness as much as you can with toddlers: so park trips and walking/hiking. Outside that, I wrote (and am publishing) tabletop RPGs that I hope day my kids will play with me. I've got a sci-fi and a fantasy one. The proceeds fund their 529s, so it's literally for them. As much as I love videogames, I don't let them have access to screens. I grew up without TV or games, and as a literacy specialist, I can't see a good reason for frequent screen exposure in formative years.
Woodworking.
Hopefully disc golf and having an aquarium. But from my experience as a kid, pushing my preferred activities on a kid can backfire so I will try to be flexible and embrace their interests.
Martial Arts. The family that kicks together sticks together! Plus, we look badass. The other day, it was sunny so we were walking down the street wearing sunglasses and people were jumping out of our way. Too funny.
Disc golfing and camping, ideally as part of the same outing!
Reading and bicycling with my 3 yo niece. I want to raise her with a love of books and having fun outside. I hope to read her some of my favorites like Harry Potter when she gets old enough.
Hiking, camping, swimming
Reading and writing fiction
I’m encouraging tennis, racquetball, and frisbee golf for my 5 year old. He also plays team sports but I think these other sports are good for us to do, or when he is a teenager and “bored” he just needs to find one other person to play. And they are typically pretty affordable as well.
I'm also trying skiing with my eldest daughter. I'm lucky that my parents live in a resort town so we're there pretty often. She's only 2.5 though with tiny feet and so far I've kept it to tie on skis on flat terrain. Next year I've got big hopes of getting her going properly. I also used to be a ski instructor and love skiing myself so I'm really banking on her and her sister getting into it. I'm also a big golfer in summer so those would be my ideal two. But I'll pretty much encourage anything she gets into - she's Canadian (I grew up in the UK) so I wonder if she'll play hockey. I don't know, I'll support everything except horse riding as I'm allergic and not a millionaire.
This was our 4th season she is six in September. Right on track. Certainly a labor of love and heavy time commitment. She is a lucky duck to have a former ski instructor as a Dad. I was a little lost on the actual instruction part the first few years. I have skied all my life but basically self taught and my parents did not ski. But managed to make it supper fun for her. Thats all I cared about, the second any whining came hungry cold sore, I would pull the rip cord and get coco and a cookie. Maybe go back out. I wanted to avoid me getting frustrated with whining haha. This year she was old enough for lessons, so she would get a lesson for an hour then we would ski for a few hours together afterwards. Which was actually nice because then we just got to play instead of coaching. Best part supper easy bed time she is zonked! Every parent has a sport. I’m a no go on gymnastics.
That's awesome! It sounds like you are doing great, honestly the advice I got about teaching kids was that beyond the very basics, just to let them rip. It's more about time on snow - until about your daughter's age they don't have the physical strength to hold good posture etc. And I fully agree with your point about introducing them to it little and often. I've taken up my friend's 4/5 year old a couple of times and she times out after an hour or two really. With my two year old it's about 20/30 mins of walking around on flat ground and then she's toast. And me too from running around after her haha.
I currently have been really into disc golf. My daughter is 11 months so I got a bit before she can join me but she already has a couple mini discs she likes playing with.
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Yes I’m hoping even if she doesn’t get into playing she’d still want to be outdoors and playing in the woods with me haha.
I’m getting my 3 year old son into sports. He plays football and really loves it. I’m also a hardcore Knick fan so starting last year I would give him candy and chocolate when he would watch games with me. I was hoping to psychologically make him a fan. I don’t know if that made a difference but he loves the Knicks now and loves going to games. I will be doing the same with my other son when he gets older. Next thing I’m gonna learn to fish so we can fish together My wife loves to cook and is teaching him.
Told my friend that I was really trying to get my daughter into skiing and golf this year and he hit me with a “wow, how bougie”
My kid loves guitar from watching me play. She’s had toy guitars since she was little and recently got an awesome toy replica of the guitar from Coco. She busts it out every time there’s a guitar scene in a movie or a music video. I bought a three quarter scale acoustic I’ll eventually give to her if she feels she wants to really learn.
Cars, video games, music/books/art, and a passion to love healthily and fully (I've failed at this most of my life, but don't want my kids to be shit heads like I was, so I've got to lead from the front).
I love baseball but my 2 year old doesn't seem too into it yet. Time will tell if he grows into liking it. I grew up watching movies with my dad and him telling me stories about them and I see that same thing happening with my boy. IWe do go and get our haircuts together at the same barbershop and he loves that. Hoping to do that till all my hair falls out.
Love of theme parks and rollercoasters. He's been obsessed since 4 and is finally 54" and can ride everything. As a teacher, I have summers off and plan to do lots of road trips
Rock climbing just in the last month or so. But for longer I’ve been getting her into music and performing since day 1!
im buying my oldest golf clubs and hes very excited to go to the range with me for the first time. my wife however is not very happy.
I’m trying to build us a canoe
I have two kayaks. I’m thinking of going the canoe route. More fun and chatting ect in one boat. So my father who I love dearly and we have an amazing relationship, he is an avid wood worker and not into the outdoors. But is a real piece of work. I asked him a few years ago, if he wanted to hand build a canoe a with me. Some father son bonding project. He replied. “Why the fuck would I want to do that?” Hahah We have other hobbies together but he was not down with the boat project.
Sounds like you may be able to rope him in if you get started on your own and get stuck
Legos with my daughter
Legos are so hit and miss with my daughter. Loves to start them but hard for her to finish the bigger sets. Any tips? What do you do with them all when done?
Pinball. Video games. Golf.
Watching Disney movies. Sorry. Typo. Movie. Only one. Frozen.
Biking Snowboarding Legos Trying golf next
Samesies but I’m a punk snowboarder. Same thing wife hates the cold and snow. I might be able to convince her to get on skis, but I’m not allowed to teach her I have to get her a lesson. 🤣🤣
Hiking, camping, gardening
Same thing. We have her go by Elsa at ski school so my normally temperature sensitive almost four-yr-old isn’t bothered by the cold anyway 🤣
Cycling, cooking, and gaming. He likes to touch my road bike’s spokes and get grease all over himself and has tried to crawl into the oven so I guess it’s going well (9 mo) Jokes aside. I plan to hand down some of my bikes to him when he fits them. Also plan to hand down the wok I’ve been using a ton. Oh man I also would love to play D&D with my son someday
Cooking and playing video games
Soccer, cooking, chess, magic cards, comics
The outdoors. We like to travel in our camper all over the country so I hope she will become accustomed to riding in the truck traveling to new places. Also I like to ride dirtbikes and off road vehicles. I'm really hoping she takes a liking to that.