Tuesday nights have become me and Finn’s date night. His older brothers graduated from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts and their meetings are on Tuesday nights. This has given Finn and I some much needed one-on-one time and I am loving it. We’ve been watching some Harry Potter movies, and we enjoyed some Hallmark  Campfire Kiss. He followed this with, “See I can watch these movies with you because I think I’m more maturer-er than my brothers.”

This past Tuesday we decided to have a dinner date and went to one of his favorite places for his FAVORITE dish. He even ordered the adult size portion. And DEVOURED it. I was hoping it would cheer him up, he’s been kind of down lately.

At first I thought he was coming down with a cold, he kept getting all emotional and not knowing why. Then I thought that maybe he wasn’t getting enough sleep. I was getting concerned, it was like living with a pregnant woman who just gets all teary-eyed over absolutely nothing. So we chatted over dinner. Apparently the cause is…he misses his brothers. This school year has brought along a lot of change. What was the dynamic duo has been changed. You see, Deacon and Finn have been inseparable. People often ask if they are twins. This year Deacon moved up to middle school with his older brother Logan. Now they are up and at the bus stop before Finn even wakes up. Deacon and Logan are now up at Boys Scouts together too. For years Finn and Deacon got ready for school together. I dropped them off together. They had Cub Scouts together. Now that has all changed and I feel terrible that he is having a hard time adjusting. So while we were at dinner and he kept saying “I don’t know” about what the problem was lately. I mentioned that maybe he missed his one-on-one with Deacon lately. That was just it.

So now they needed to plan a little one-on-one date night too. Change is hard. Identify it. Talk it through. Make an action plan. Once a week the older two wake him up early so they can have breakfast together. Logan moved back to his own room after a summer of “sleepovers” (every night). This is giving Finn and Deacon some of their own time together. Hopefully he continues to adjust. He’ll be up at the middle school before we know it. It all goes by way too fast. It is just hard to fix something when you don’t know what the problem is. A good line of communication is key.

Do you plan one-on-one time with your kids? What about one-on-one for siblings?