Being a parent is one of the best jobs I’ve had but equally a challenging one. Like with any other job we need to take annual leave/holiday to recharge our batteries, I believe this can be applied to parenthood too.
During the August UK bank holiday weekend I went on a retreat to Lake District in the UK with my accountability partners. These are my close friends, my groomsmen and the godfathers of my daughter, we’ve known each other for 20 years! My wife headed off to her parents with our daughter. It was also refreshing for her too because she got the opportunity to put her feet up and let her parents take care of our daughter. As our daughter is still mainly breastfed, my wife and I decided that we’ll wait till she’s officially off breast milk before I can do a full on “daddy weekend care” should my wife decide to go away.
It was a good opportunity for my wife and I to recharge. I will cover my perspective from this blog post.
Activities
Whilst at Lake District we conducted a variety of activities such as:
Monopoly:
This is something my friends and I have been playing for quite sometime, I am yet to lose 🙂
Forest walking:
This was probably the second time I’ve done this; I must say it was very refreshing! Listening to the waters and streams was a very calming experience.
Talking about parenthood:
Since my friends statuses are mixture of married and single, it was nice catching up and bouncing ideas off each other as we all aspire to be wonderful parents one day.
Investments:
This is probably our most passionate topic and interest that we all share together; we talk about this literally EVERYDAY! “What stocks are you going to buy next?” , “dividends or growth stocks”, “views on the economy?” As we’re finance professionals and passionate about it we tend to try and stay on top of current finance affairs. More importantly, building wealth for our children is something we’re very keen on.
They say “Absence makes the heart grow fonder”
During these times I missed my wife and daughter like crazy, my form of communication with them was via FaceTime video every couple hours. My daughter had the time of her life at the grandparents, as it was a new experience for her. I couldn’t seem to get her attention each time I spoke to her.
Back Home
When our weekend at Lake District came to an end, we went back to our respective homes. It was exciting to see my family once again! We chilled out for the remaining hours of the day and spent quality time watching a movie!
Final Thoughts
I think having small time away is healthy, it was a great opportunity for my wife and I to recharge our batteries. It was an opportunity for us all to miss and appreciate each other even more. How do you or plan to self care?
K.
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