My daughter and I wanted to go out and do something special together. I suggested a nature walk. To make it really fun, I gave her a Sony Bloggie camera (disclosure: SONY gave me the camera to try out, but I’m not obligated to use it for any particular projects) so she could capture some nature. I took along my own camera and shot photos of her interacting with it.

What came from this is the chance to talk, to snap photos, to see things differently, and then to get the experience a SECOND time by looking over all our media after we got back. For instance, her videos were a lot of fun because she showed me how she saw the lake we were walking around. She focused on very different parts of the landscape than I did, and I somehow figured we’d both naturally just look at the same stuff.

In taking my daughter out solo, it gave us a chance to bond and to talk about things without me having to worry about what her little brother would get into. It also let me work directly with her age (almost 8). It further let us do something geeky together that let her stretch her abilities in a certain direction. Whenever you put tech in the hands of your kids, something interesting comes of it (well, depending on the tech, I guess). But it didn’t all revolve around the technology. That’s just what we did to frame it all.

It becomes important to give the other kid some time, too. I tend to favor my daughter because she’s older so we can explore in a different way, but my little boy is fun for the way he sees things, too. (That photo is of him with my dad, Steve Brogan, as they explore the big rock out by my parents’ house.) In this way, I can work with his special interests, and I can experience the world in his own way.

In the case of my boy, he’s almost too digital, so instead of doing projects with him and technology, I end up trying to strip him of all tech and make him experience the real world for a while. Mushrooms aren’t just something Mario steps on, for instance. They grow on the sides of mossy trees in Poppy and Gramma’s back yard. Birds aren’t just giant and yellow and live on Sesame Street. They fly through the trees out by the park by our house.

Parenting isn’t a set recipe and regimen. Sometimes, it’s all about the customization. I find that the way I amp up special time with my kids is by making sure the activities are very specific to each one, and that I find ways to give them one-on-one time.

How do you accomplish the same? How do you make special time more special?

Disclosure: the photos in this post were shot with a Nikon D300s that was given to me by Nikon to try out.