Looking for some outdoor fun with your kid? How about playing catch? Daddy Clay reflects on fatherhood while spending Quality Time with his kids as he recounts the father son moments created during these outdoor games. From footballs to soccer balls to nerf toys, there are a variety of balls and other sporting goods available for kids and dads. Catch this video. Ep 442 brought to you by BabyBjorn.

 

DADDY CLAY: This week on Quality Time we’re talking about our balls.

So the football comes arcing in a perfect spiral right for my youngest son’s hands, a beautiful pass and when it gets close the light comes on and he quickly turns his back and lets the ball plunk him and then he turns around and he picks it up off the ground and the most upsetting part is that the pass came from another boy about his age, not from me.

This led me to realize that I need to play catch with my son. The good dad is out there playing catch with his kid but I don’t need to tell you that. I always play catch with my older two kids. I have a standing “I will always say yes when my child asks me to play catch” policy.

For a decade, every time a kid has asked me no matter how fresh my cocktail is, if a kid says “I want to play catch, Dad,” I put it down.

The problem is my youngest son doesn’t ask me to play catch. He asks to watch.

So I’m determined to play catch with my youngest son. I took him out the other day and I had a football like this, threw it nice and tight and hit him right in the head. That was the end of that game.

There’s this magical age between when they can walk and when they go off to participate in organized sports where there’s like cones and a guy with a mesh bag. Before that happens you should really play catch with your kid. What I had forgotten is that you have to use the appropriate tools.

Get a Nerf. Get something a little squishy that they can handle. I love those inflatable ones that are a little sticky.

The other thing you can do is go to all “alt-ball.” Try something different. This is the Yackle Ball. My kids love this one. It takes the pressure off. You don’t have to throw this thing in a spiral. Any way you chuck this thing it’s a win. As long as it hits me somewhere that’s funny and makes them laugh.

A soccer ball, because kicking is so much easier and more satisfying to that age of kids. He can boot the ball like crazy and you don’t have that “I missed it and it hit me” problem.

As long as it looks like the ball that his big brother plays with it is totally satisfying for younger kids.

Why not go to DadLabs.com and join the discussion with me about what kind of ball is best to play with your younger kid. What worked for you in the backyard? That’s all for us this week on Quality Time.