Is your dad’s or husband’s love language acts of service? He might really like an act of service for Father’s Day this year!
Love Language: Acts of Service
If you’ve been here a while, you’ll know that I went all in on the concept of love languages after I read Gary Chapman’s The 5 Love Languages. I have already suggested that you read this book twice, in My Secret to Loving Laundry and Books to Gift Yourself for Mother’s Day, and I haven’t even been writing this blog for a year yet. In a nutshell, the author suggests that all people are fluent in one of five love languages – Words of affirmation, Quality time, Receiving gifts, Acts of service, and Physical touch. It’s so profound when you figure out your love language and the love languages of your loved ones. The result is true communication!
My love language is undoubtedly acts of service. I best receive love when helpful acts are done to or for me and my default way to show my love to others is to do things for them. If your dad or husband is like me and speaks fluent acts of service as his love language, this is the post for you! Instead of buying him a present or preparing a gushy speech about how he’s such a good dad, try an act of service. It will hit the bullseye.
Bonus Points
These Father’s Day acts of service aren’t only for all those dads out there who are fluent in the acts of service love language. Any dad would appreciate his family doing something nice for him. These are also all free or extremely low-cost gift ideas for Father’s Day that are great ideas for the cash-strapped kid. You don’t have to get Dad an expensive gift on Father’s Day to show him you love him.
Father’s Day Acts of Service
Clean the garage
Cleaning the garage is almost always dad territory. It can be a big job. And in the summertime, it can be a hot, sweaty job. Do your dad or husband a favor and handle this item on his to do list. Or, at the very least, help him tackle it. It’s a grand Father’s Day act of service.
What you’ll need
To clean the garage, you’ll need a free chunk of time. This can often be hard to come by, so you probably need to look at the calendar and schedule it. You will also need a push broom. It is shocking the amount of dirt that can accumulate on the garage floor. A shop vac will also come in handy. You should also have plenty of water nearby. There isn’t any air conditioning in the garage, remember.
Get the kids involved
My kids absolutely love to clean the garage! We typically hand the 4-year-old the push broom (he’s shockingly effective) and put the 2-year-old on shop vac on/off switch duty. The kids can also be charged with sorting through their outdoor toys stored in the garage to determine if anything is broken or just not played with anymore.
Wash the car
I’m not too sure my husband would approve of me putting wash the car on this list, but here it is. If your dad or husband is willing to cede car wash duties to you, this can be a very nice Father’s Day act of service. You can add a full detail of the inside of his car to your gesture if you’re feeling really generous. If he transports little kids in his car, I can tell you right now that his car needs a full detail. They’re sticky and they make everything they contact sticky. It’s the 4th law of motion that Newton left out. He never had any children.
What you’ll need
If you’re just going to wash the outside of the car, you’ll need a hose, a bucket, some car wash soap, a sponge, a wheel brush, some old towels, and some window cleaner (I like to make my own with 2 cups of water, ¼ cup of vinegar, and a good squirt of blue Dawn).
If you want to really knock his socks off and detail the inside of his car, you’ll need a shop vac, some interior cleaner, some microfiber cloths, and that window cleaner you used on the outside of the car.
Get the kids involved
OK, who doesn’t have fond memories of washing the car as a kid? Kids love this job. Get the bathing suits on and hand them the hose. They can be involved in pretty much every aspect of this Father’s Day act of service. They can work the hose, they can scrub with the sponge, they can be in charge of cleaning the wheels or the windows. You just need to step in when your height is required.
If you’re doing the inside of the car too, they’ll do a bang-up job there too. My 4-year-old does a great job vacuuming up all the Cheerios his sister spills with the shop vac, and the 2-year-old loves to do the windows.
Meal prep
I don’t know a single person who doesn’t love to have a nice meal cooked for them. If you’re taking on meal prep as your Father’s Day act of service, talk to the dad who will be benefiting and understand if they’d like to grill food that you prepare or if they’d prefer to sit back and relax until it’s time to pick up the fork and knife. Don’t take away his joy by trying to do something nice if he really wants to do the cooking on Father’s Day.
What you’ll need
The biggest thing you’ll need is a plan. Before Father’s Day, sit down with the recipient dad and ask what he would like to eat and get his thoughts on whether he would like to be an active participant in cooking any of it. Go to the grocery store to get the ingredients you’ll need, then set to work.
Get the kids involved
There are always little jobs that you can give kids in the kitchen. They can help chop veggies with kid-safe knives, they can stir and mix anything that needs stirring or mixing, and they can be the clean-up crew (my 4-year-old actually asks to wash the dishes sometimes!). Just keep the little ones away from sharp knives and hot surfaces.
Yard work
The yard work is never-ending in the summer. The grass needs cut, the weeds need pulled, and the plants need watered. It’s a great idea to take some of this constant work off Dad’s shoulders as your Father’s Day act of service.
What you’ll need
What you’ll need depends on which part of the yard work you’re taking on. If you’re going to cut the grass, you’ll need the lawn mower, the weed whacker, and the leaf blower. If you’re pulling weeds, you’ll just need a nice pair of gardening gloves.
Get the kids involved
How you can get the kids involved in the yard work really depends on how old they are and their interest level. Little ones can pull weeds or spray the hose on the plants that need watered, whereas bigger kids can do the whole job, soup to nuts.
Let him sleep
The ability to sleep in is the biggest act of service anyone could give my husband. As I noted when I described his perfect Father’s Day, it is the highlight of his special day. Don’t underestimate how much the dads in your life will appreciate a few extra winks on Father’s Day.
What you’ll need
Patience.
Get the kids involved
Keep them occupied. Have them make breakfast or play outside or watch cartoons while Dad gets a little extra sleep.
Take out the trash
No one likes to take out the trash. If this is typically a dad task in your house, it can be a great Father’s Day act of service to take this task off his plate. And don’t just empty the kitchen trash can. Get it all! Go room to room and round up the random trash cans that only get emptied once in a blue moon. I’m talking about the trash can in the laundry room that gets filled with dryer lint and the trash can in the guest room that you forget exists. If there is a child who still wears diapers in your house, definitely take care of emptying the diaper pail. It’s a huge gift to take on that smell for Dad on Father’s Day.
What you’ll need
Have replacement bags with you as you go around the house emptying trash. It’s not a good surprise to throw something in the trash can only to find there isn’t a liner in the bin.
Get the kids involved
Kids can absolutely help round up all the trash in the house. If the kids are big enough, this is a task that you can fully give over to the kids. If they aren’t quite big enough yet, they can still help you empty the rubbish in the smaller trash cans into one bag. My 2-year-old gets a thrill out of this task, in fact.
Make him a drink
Perhaps the Father’s Day act of service he will appreciate most is making Dad a drink. Have him sit down in front of the TV and bring him the beverage of his choice. This could be really easy or pretty complicated, depending on his preference, but it will be appreciated regardless of the level of skill involved.
What you’ll need
Depending on Dad’s preference, you might just need your fingers to open a can of beer. If he’d prefer a more complicated beverage, gather up the ingredients and the tools you’ll need to make whatever he prefers. My husband is into Kentucky mules lately, so I would need bourbon, limes, ginger beer, crushed ice, a few blackberries, a citrus squeezer, and a copper mug.
Get the kids involved
If it’s a beer Dad wants, the kids can fetch that on their own. If you’re making a cocktail for the dad in your life, get the kids involved by making them matching mocktails that they can drink along with Dad. The kids will feel so special getting to share a fancy drink with Dad!
I hope the dads in your lives get to be spoiled a little with an act of service or two this Father’s Day. What are you planning to do for your dad or husband to show how much you appreciate him this Father’s Day?