How to Turn a Normal Day into a Life-Changing Moment with Your Child

Ordinary Day, Extraordinary Opportunity: How to Really Know Your Kids

This isn’t a holiday or a milestone. It’s not Father’s Day. It’s not their first day of school or your wedding anniversary.

It’s just … a regular day.
And yet, this might be the most powerful moment you’ll have all year.

Why? Because it’s the kind of day we usually rush through. We check off tasks, scroll our phones, run errands, head to work, and repeat it all tomorrow. But what if today, you stopped?

What if you hit pause, took five minutes, and simply thought about your kids?

A Challenge for Ordinary Dads on Ordinary Days

Here’s the challenge:

Take 10 minutes.
Think about each of your children individually.
Reflect on the past year.
And ask yourself: “How well do I really know my child?”

Pull up some photos from last spring. Scroll through your calendar. What did they love then? What did they struggle with? What’s changed in their personality, faith, interests, or friendships?

Now, flip the lens forward. What’s on the horizon in the next 12 months?
What will stretch them? What might excite them? What might hurt?

This is intentional fathering.
This is how you build trust and deepen relationships.
This is how you win their hearts, one ordinary day at a time.

Two Ways to Grow in Awareness as a Dad

1. Be Generally Aware

Every age comes with its own terrain. Like a pilot scanning the skies, you need a “developmental radar” for what’s typical at their stage of life.

Are you tuned into what your 6-year-old is processing emotionally? What your 13-year-old is wrestling with socially? What your 17-year-old is wondering spiritually?

Knowing what to expect helps you guide with wisdom, not just reaction.

2. Be Specifically Aware

Every child is a world unto themselves.

• What makes them laugh?
• What stresses them out?
• Do they process emotions quietly or with words?
• Do they draw energy from others or need space to recharge?
• Who are they becoming—and what do they dream about?

If you approach your kids like snowflakes—no two the same—your connection will go far deeper than any rule or routine ever could.

You can’t truly love someone you don’t really know.

Your Next Step: Curiosity Over Control

Try this simple exercise:

Imagine you’re meeting your child for the first time.
What would you ask to get to know them better?

Write down five to ten questions you’d genuinely want to hear their answers to. Here are a few to spark your own:

• “What’s something you wish people understood about you?”
• “If you could have any job in the world for a week, what would it be?”
• “What’s your favorite way to spend time with me?”
• “What’s something that makes you nervous these days?”
• “Who inspires you most right now?”

Now, keep those questions handy. Pull one out during your next car ride, bedtime chat, or while tossing the ball in the yard. Don’t push for answers—just listen, and be curious.

Picture This—One Year From Now

Same ordinary week. Same random day.
But imagine looking back and realizing something big changed.

You didn’t just watch your kids grow.
You knew them.
You laughed with them.
You sat in the hard moments.
You asked better questions.
You showed up—not just physically, but emotionally and spiritually too.

And they knew it.
They felt it.

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