This is a guest post by Daniel from deguia.net.

Being a father and raising two great kids is, hands down, the single thing that I am the most proud of.

My two children, ages 7 and 3, keep me constantly on my toes and just when I think I’ve got them pegged – their likes and dislikes, their favorite things – WHAM! They prove to me that they’ve still got a seemingly endless bag of tricks at their disposal.

But that doesn’t mean we as dads can’t roll with it and let out a few of our own tricks. One of those tricks I’ve come to fully appreciate over the years is the notion that, as dads, we are our child’s favorite toy. Let me explain.

The thing that both of my children want to play with the most when I’m around is me.

My children have a lot of toys, and we’re pretty loose with when they play video games or watch movies, especially during the summer. But the thing that both of my children want to play with the most when I’m around is me. That’s right, I’m bragging! Once I realized that I am my kid’s favorite toy things became much easier. I no longer worried that I didn’t have the energy to play with Barbies, cartoon-looking Pet Shop toys, or trains plagued by industrial accidents, what mattered was that I was playing with son and daughter.

Here are some of the ways I turn into my kid’s favorite toys:

1. Both of my children are fanatical about the arrangement of their toys. It will easily take my son and/or daughter 20 minutes to set up their Barbies or GeoTrax train set, just so we can play. While playing with them, they are both very bossy and have no hesitation about telling you that you’re not doing it right, or that you have to play with “this one” or “that’s not its turn yet”. They’re polite of course, but very specific.

Using the dad trick of the trade, I improvise and begin making the Barbies fly to the store instead of driving, or I’ll have the trains drive backwards. This is usually met with jaws hitting the floor, but it helps them think outside the box and not be so serious when it comes to playing.

2. I become a chair while watching a movie. Both of my kids, my son in particular, usually ask me to sit cross-legged on the couch so he can sit “more cozy” on my legs.

3. Build that tunnel! My son absolutely loves trains but can be pretty bossy, so instead of being put in my place by a 3-year-old, again, I’ve found a good compromise: I act as the tunnel. He’ll help by moving my arms and legs to be the tunnel were he wants. Every once in a while, to keep him on his toes, the tunnel collapses. What can I say – bad structural engineering!

4. On days when I have absolutely zero energy, I’ll suddenly flop onto the living room floor. The kids never fail to seize the opportunity to begin jumping and pouncing on me. After a few minutes of this, miraculously, I find a reserve of energy and we end up rough-housing for quite a while. Actually, now that I think of it, most of our games turn into roughhousing and tickle matches.

5. I read to them. Not all father-child interaction has to be rambunctious playing and a book without an enthusiastic voice and energy is useless. My kids love it when I read to them at night, and it’s also the highlight of my day. I get to hunker down with the each of my kids, one on one, and read their favorite stories to them. They ask questions during the reading that helps them learn things they wouldn’t ordinarily learn, they discover new words and all of those other great things that books show to kids.

Every father is the same in the sense that we all have exhausting days. It helps at the end of a long day, when your child asks you to sit down and play, when all you REALLY want to do is relax for a few minutes, to remember that it’s not the playing they want, it’s the time with their dad that they’ve been eagerly awaiting.

What are some of the ways you like to become your child’s favorite toy?

*Publisher’s Note: If you’d like to learn more about Daniel, I definitely recommend visiting his site and subscribe to his feed.

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