A Day of Beauty

Mom: Janet
Daughter: Alexandra, four-years-old
Activity: A Day of Beauty
Pros: Absolute fun! What girl doesn't love to be pampered?
Cons: Just for the girls--or is it?

After the birth of my second child, I decided that it was important to start spending some one-on-one time with my big girl, Alexandra. As I started thinking it over, it occurred to me that she really enjoys going to the beauty salon with me to get her hair cut.

Our beauty salon is located in a great outdoor shopping center that has lots of neat shops including a toy store, a couple of restaurants and even a movie theater. Well the wheels started to spin and as you can imagine, it didn't take me long to put together a complete day of fun for two girls at the mall!

Girls rule!
Now about every six weeks, Mom and Alex leave the baby with Dad and head out to the beauty salon for hair cuts and manicures (by the way, our salon offers free manicures to kids, you might want to ask to see if it's available at yours!). The women who work at our shop are really fun and always make a big deal about Alex, especially now that they know it's her special day with mom. And she always gets a new ribbon for her hair. So after we have been sufficiently beautified, we go out to lunch at a restaurant.

Glamorous life
After we have enjoyed our lunch together, we usually cruise on over to the toy store, where Alex can pick out a special treat, usually stickers or a new activity book (nothing too big or too expensive and she knows the rules ahead of time!). And sometimes, after our visit to the toy store, depending on how much energy we have left, we'll go to see a movie.

The beauty of all of these activities (especially for mom) is that they are all located in one shopping center, so we're not in and out of the car all day. And we don't always include the movie, because on a couple of occasions my daughter has had so much fun with all of the other day's events that by the time we get to the movie, all she's ready for is a nap.

Sweet simplicity
So even though we may have certain activities in mind for the day, we keep it pretty flexible. Sometimes we'll spend time shopping for new clothes or if the weather is particularly nice, we might stop at the playground on the way home. I really enjoy spending the day with my big girl this way and I think that it really makes her feel special too. We both come home looking and feeling great!

More on: Raising Good Kids