Dads and sons have many natural opportunities through sports, outdoors, and hobbies to find opportunities to spend time together. It is often more difficult to find opportunities for Dads to spend time sharing an activity with their daughters. Let me give you an idea. Girls love to make their rooms their little nest or private retreat, but are not that adept at building and heavy lifting. Helping your daughter re-arrange, decorate or update their rooms is a great opportunity for dads and daughters to spend quality time sharing their vision and working together to make it a reality.
My daughter, Summer, is 10 years old and she has a vision for decorating her own room. We have been moving furniture, painting, and hanging accessories. After looking all over for a desk, I found all the furniture to expensive, made of cheap pressboard, and poorly made. I suggested we find a nice used desk and paint it ourselves. No it was not the most convenient path, but it has been the most rewarding.
We bought the desk from a friend whose daughter had left for college and hauled it home. It is a nice solid wood desk with solid wood drawers and very well made. Summer and I sanded, primed, and painted the desk over the labor day weekend and finished it up the following weekend. I probably have 10 – 12 hours into the desk and Summer joined me for at least half of the time. She learned to use the orbital sander and was very patient in applying the primer and paint. We listened to the radio, talked, and had hours together working on her project. She recognized and appreciated the effort to do a good job and will have the perfect desk for her new room. This morning I touched up a few last spots, replaced the hardware, and installed the new drawer pulls she picked out from Pottery Barn. She was so excited to see the finished product and was not only proud of the work she did, but gave me a big hug as she connected the love I have for her with the time and effort to make it just right.
Ephesians 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
Our lives are packed full of responsibilities and activities, but simply taking the time to do a project together the old fashioned way is a memory and treasure never forgotten. I expect she will spend many hours at this desk and it will be a special place for her where she can remember the work she did to restore it, the time we shared together, and the love I have for her. What projects do you have?
