As a brand ambassador for Kind Snacks, I agreed to write about one adventure I shared with my kids. I could write about my trip to Niagara Falls with my 3 kids (where my oldest son broke his arm), or I could write about our many trips to the Met or the Museum of Natural History. I could write about the day we explored Central Park. Or I could write about how I took my kids to cheer for the US Women’s National Soccer Team during the ticker tape parade in NYC. I could also write about my trip to Washington D.C. All of these trips included a Kind bar in my backpack. In fact, almost every place I go includes at least 4 Kind bars in my bag. Since my family is always on the go, we need healthy snacks with protein (Kind bars have 10g) to carry us through the day and get us from one meal to the next. Thankfully, we buy Kind bars in bulk, so we always have a healthy snack on hand.
But I’m not going to write about eating a Kind bar with my kids on the steps of the Capitol in D.C. or eating one in the waiting room of the ER after my son broke his arm at Niagara Falls or any other of the many trips we’ve taken as a family this past year. Instead, I’m writing about an activity that many families go on during the summer… a trip to the beach.
The waves crashed over my son and daughter, as I stood ankle deep in water. One particularly strong wave washed in and I could see that they took a hard fall, as they crashed about in the surf, bounced up, and went back down. I acted quickly and yanked my daughter out of the water, as the powerful water attempted to drag her out into the ocean. As I held tight to her shoulders, my eyes searched for my son’s blond head sticking out of the water.
“Stand up! Stand up!” I yelled at him.
“I can’t!” He yelled back.
“Yes you can! Dig in and stand!”
“I can’t”
“Do it now!”
My son put his knee down and straightened up as I picked my daughter up out of the water. Fighting the waters myself, I hoisted her onto my back. After securing her, I reached over and grabbed my son under his armpit and pulled him to his feet. The water receded and we walked up to the beach and plopped into the sand. We were tired and breathing deeply.
My son looked up at me and said, “Why didn’t you save me first? I thought I was drowning.” I put my arm around him and said, “I had to make a quick choice. I knew you were strong enough to fight the water long enough for me to get to you. Your sister, she was about to get sucked under. I had to make a quick choice and I grabbed her first. You are fine and so is she, and my choice was the right one. I’m sorry if you feel slighted.” Then I hugged both of them and told them I loved them.
This moment was only 1 minute of the 5 hours that we spent at the beach that day. Within that five hour period, we had great conversations, swam, played on the boogie board, built sand castles, and yes, snacked on Kind bars. Despite a few seconds of feeling peril, we had an amazing time. My wife, who is due to give birth to our fourth child any day, was along as well. This was probably the last big outing for all of us together before we add another family member. Going into the day I had hoped it would be memorable, and it was – for both the wrong reasons and the right ones. It was a day full of sun and love and togetherness.
Getting out of the house with my kiddos is an everyday thing for me and I’m always looking for my next family adventure. I’ve joined a bunch of great dad bloggers and Life of Dad to encourage families to get out of the house and be active as part of the #KindMilesMatter campaign. And since Target and Kind have joined together for Made to Matter campaign, which features great products, like Kind bars, that are promoting healthy and natural products, there isn’t much holding families back from being active and healthy while being socially conscious. Kind is committed to using real ingredients (there is nothing in the bars you can’t pronounce) and running a company that promotes kindness, and that’s why I choose to fill my backpack with them when we are out and about.
And on a side not about how great the Kind company is, they are donating a box of Kind bars for every mile that I log with RunKeeper. My 11 year old son volunteers at a food pantry where he stocks shelves and hands out groceries to the customers. Kind bars are going to look good on the shelves that he stocks.
To shop for Kind Snacks or read more about the company, click here. You can also learn more about the company and the founder by reading the book, Do the Kind Thing, by Daniel Lubetzky. Parents will enjoy reading the chapter about Mr. Lubtzky’s work/life balance with four kids.
Disclosure: I have partnered with Life of Dad and KIND for this promotion.
Have never heard of Kind snacks, so this is a blog I enjoyed reading for that reason. But I was also fascinated with the account of “saving” little ones in the ocean. It’s scary indeed in that big water. Just have to watch ’em carefully.
Will look for these bars. They sound great. I remember when my husband had to rescue our youngest daughter, from a lake. The only problem was that he wasn’t wearing his glasses and could only follow the directions of people on the shore who were yelling to him. It also turned out well, but was scary. Yes, I know, we should have had a life jacket on her.