Hey, Dads Need Date Nights Also, Have Them

When parenting takes over your life, date nights take a back seat. Sometimes they even disappear.

Gone are the days or nights as a college kid, when there were no obligations besides turning up with your friends as much as possible.

Now if I go out, I’m either tired by 9 pm, or start to regret having to wake up early the next day due to my kids. YOU know they don’t let us sleep lol.

However; date nights are needed in a dads life as much as anyone else. It gives us an escape from our kids, it can rekindle your love life, and it doesn’t matter what you do as long as you do it with someone.

When the NYC Dads Group invited me to watch the Broadway show ‘Escape To Margaritaville,’ I couldn’t say no, even though it was a school night, I needed it more than I thought.

Here’s why you, a dad, should do a date night whenever possible.

Freedom from the kids

Some weeks I spend almost 100% of my time taking care or thinking of my kids. I barely take out time for myself besides the occasional social media binge.

I have fun but it’s not the same as taking a day or night to have fun without them.

It was hard but once we got there I had to keep reminding myself that the babysitter aka grandma could handle it. I didn’t need to check in every 15 minutes or facetime the kids from the bathroom to check up on them.

That escape from the kids, even though it was only for 3 hours, was freedom. That doesn’t mean I didn’t think of them, it meant I finally put myself 1st. I was going to enjoy my date night and turn up without them.

Reignite your love life or get back to dating

I don’t know about you, but I love my wife. I love how we used to spend all our time together before our kids. I used to love just chilling with her on any random night without a care in the world.

Once my kids came around, those random chill days started to disappear. It wasn’t just the kids, adult life took over. Work and making money took precedence over everything else outside of the family.

Reignite your love life or get your groove back by having a date night. Do the things that got you making babies in the 1st place. Flirt, drink, touch, make a connection, all of that. You won’t know how bad you needed a date night until you actually have one.

It’s not what you do but who you do it with

I am an 80’s baby that grew up on Hip Hop in the South Bronx. Although I am always down to try new things, doing a Jimmy Buffett inspired musical wasn’t high on my must-do list.

It didn’t matter if it was a great show or a dud, I was doing it with my wife. It was our time to be together and enjoy our time besides each other.

Worst case scenario, we could both laugh at the night we had together. Thank goodness we didn’t have that issue with Escape to Margaritaville. Although I barely knew the music, I still swayed left and right with the crowd.

The bonus was that it was a great show but the best part was that I was able to do it with someone I cared about. We drank margaritas (they were strong, don’t judge me lol) and laughed all night together, just like the old days.

Escaping on a date, do more of them

Escape To Margaritaville was a perfect excuse to get out of the house and go on a date with my wife. Chances are we wouldn’t have had a date night that whole month if we weren’t invited by the NYC Dads Group.

That day wasn’t just a day to escape from the kids, it was a day to add a spark to my relationship with my boo thing. It reminded me of all the things that went right in our relationship which led to us having multiple kids.

Shit, in all honesty, she’s lucky she didn’t get pregnant that night. No one will ever judge you for doing you and taking the time to live your life outside of the kids. If they do, who cares, it’s your life to live not theirs anyway.

Was it #Cool4Dads, hell yeah! Cheers to more date nights and less stress, Escape To Margaritaville.

What’s the last date night you had? What did you do, hit me up and let me know so other dope dads can do the same! 

#FatherhoodIsLit