{"id":787,"date":"2012-05-29T21:07:00","date_gmt":"2012-05-30T01:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/twelve-terrific-times-to-talk-10-half-birthdays-and-other-dates\/"},"modified":"2015-07-25T16:54:40","modified_gmt":"2015-07-25T20:54:40","slug":"twelve-terrific-times-to-talk-10-half-birthdays-and-other-dates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/twelve-terrific-times-to-talk-10-half-birthdays-and-other-dates\/","title":{"rendered":"Twelve Terrific Times to Talk—#10: Half Birthdays and Other “Dates”"},"content":{"rendered":"

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#10: Half Birthdays and Other \u201cDates\u201d<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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When our older kids turned twelve (girls) or thirteen (boys), they began to have a special privilege known as \u201chalf birthday dates.\u201d At the 12 \u00bd (or 13 \u00bd) year old mark, that child got taken out to dinner with Mom and Dad for a unique dinner date. The first date was a time for the son or daughter to re-committ to purity (and for the girls, included a purity\/promise ring)\u2014 and included a long conversation affirming all of the teaching that they had received up to this point about our relationship standards. (For our family, this has included a commitment not to \u201cdate around\u201d but to only begin seeing someone when he or she is ready to get married and thinks the person might be \u201cthe one.\u201d Of course, there are many more details that go into this (i.e. getting parents\u2019 approval on both sides, establishing a relationship (that we called \u201ccourtsthip,\u201d etc.).)<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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Beyond that first half birthday date, our kids\u2019 \u201chalf dates\u201d have included the child choosing a restaurant and a night out with Mom and Dad to talk about goals, friends, siblings, academics, ministry, and more. It was a novel idea that we carried out for many, many years. <\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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This tradition has gone by the way for us today\u2014as it served its purpose in establishing times away for one child and Mom and Dad during the child\u2019s teen and young adults years. However, it is no longer needed in a formal manner since we have \u201cdates\u201d with our teens and young adults much more regularly than at the half birthday mark today. As a matter of fact, as I type this, we are driving home from South Carolina to bring our son home from his internship with the Academy of Arts. We just did a \u201cdinner date\u201d with our daughter and son-in-law the night before we left to come to SC. The night before that found us eating dinner alone with our seventeen year old after his first day of college classes. As we drive home today, we will sit down with our son at one of his favorite spots. In a few days, one of our daughters will be home with her \u201ccourt friend,\u201d and the four of us will sit down alone one evening. A few days after that, another daughter will be home for a short visit, and Mom, Dad, and daughter will go to her favorite spot. (Yes, it costs money and calories\u2014both of which we save just for these occasions\u2014time with our kids is more of a priority to us than a beautifully decorated house or expensive vehicles.)<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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When our olders were younger, we would sometimes do \u201cdates\u201d one on one with the little kids, too. These could be as simple as getting an ice cream cone at McDonalds and going to the park to walk and see the buffalo or taking a bike ride. Time with our kids one-on-one doesn\u2019t always have to cost a lot. Once again, the point is that each child knows that Mom and Dad want to spend time alone with that child\u2014and we will go to great lengths to be sure that happens. <\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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#10: Half Birthdays and Other \u201cDates\u201d When our older kids turned twelve (girls) or thirteen (boys), they began to have a special privilege known as \u201chalf birthday dates.\u201d At the 12 \u00bd (or 13 \u00bd) year old mark, that child got taken out to dinner with Mom and Dad for a unique dinner date. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[630,643,488,633,308,281],"tags":[278,107,303,338,367],"yoast_head":"\nTwelve Terrific Times to Talk-#10: Half Birthdays and Other "Dates" - Character Ink<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/twelve-terrific-times-to-talk-10-half-birthdays-and-other-dates\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Twelve Terrific Times to Talk-#10: Half Birthdays and Other "Dates" - Character Ink\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"#10: Half Birthdays and Other \u201cDates\u201d When our older kids turned twelve (girls) or thirteen (boys), they began to have a special privilege known as \u201chalf birthday dates.\u201d At the 12 \u00bd (or 13 \u00bd) year old mark, that child got taken out to dinner with Mom and Dad for a unique dinner date. 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