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I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to conclude that most people would pick Saturday as their favorite day of the week. For years, Guadalcanal Diary’s “Always Saturday” — a classic one-hit wonder — was my weekend theme song.

On Saturday, me and the little girl head to swim class.

Now I’m thinking it would be an appropriate tune for dads, as my Saturdays are packed with kid activities. I’m not the only dad, that’s for sure.

The day starts with me and the little girl at swim class. Next comes floor hockey with the boy. (I should note these are the current seasonal activities but will change when the weather warms.) Yet there’s a common denominator no matter the event — in my experience, dads are the most frequent participant with the child. Why is this?

Well, I imagine it’s mostly because Saturday is the day where there is no day care, no school and no work. It’s when dads can revel in one-on-one time with their kids. Indeed, according to a 2007 survey from CareerBuilder, 37 percent of dads would quit their job to spend more time with their kids if their spouse’s salary allowed. The survey also found that a quarter of working dads spend less than one hour with their kids each day.

On Saturday, dads get to cut loose — and it’s great.

Of course, it’s not exclusively dads. Moms spend plenty of time with their kids on Saturday for the same reasons. Indeed, it could very easily be my wife in the pool with the little girl — except that both would need the swim lessons.

Still, in my experience — and in particular when it comes to swim class, where 80 percent of the parents in the pool are dads — dads are spending a whole lot of quality time with the kids on Saturday.

And I can’t wait. I’m writing this on a Friday afternoon.

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