SOUTH BEND — A working mother herself, St. Joseph County naturalist Amal Farrough understands how difficult it can be for parents to set aside time to spend with their children.

This dilemma was inspiration for a new series of programs hosted by St. Joseph County Parks in Indiana. Beginning Aug. 9 with a father-daughter canoeing trip, the parks committee will begin hosting seasonal trips dedicated to parent-child interaction.

“A lot of us at the parks are parents ourselves. We’re aware that sometimes we need a little bit of motivation to do something special with our child. We thought maybe this would give people a little bit of opportunity to get together with their child and do something they haven’t done before, and give them a chance to bond a bit,” Farrough said.

Fathers and daughters will meet at St. Patrick’s County Park Aug. 9, where they will be shuttled by park organizers to Tower Park, located on Riverside Drive in South Bend.

“At (Riverside) Park, we will launch into the river. It’s a four-and-a-half mile downstream trip back to St. Joseph’s County Park. There’s an island about a third of the way along where we’ll provide a snack for all participants,” Farrough said, adding that this is a good spot to watch for species in their natural habitat, including turtles and osprey.

“We hope that it will be an occasion for fathers and daughters to spend some time together before school starts,” she said.

Farrough said St. Joseph County parks staff have been working to revamp their events, adding several other activities that take advantage of the parks’ many amenities such as moonlight and twilight canoeing trips.

“We’re going to offer a full series of parent events,” Farrough said.

Though not solidified, other parent-child events in the works include a mother-daughter ski trip, father-son archery event and a mother-son hayride trip.

“Most of them will probably be at St. Patrick’s County Park, but the hayride would be at Bendix Woods County Park,” Farrough said. “We’re kind of hoping to offer one per season, so this one is the summer event, and we’ll do one in the fall, winter and spring.”

Those wishing to participate in the father-daughter canoe trip must sign up by Aug. 4. Cost is $20 per canoe. A canoe fits up to three people.

“What we said is that it’s ideal for daughters 10 and older. If there’s only one adult in the canoe, we don’t really want a tiny child in the front of the canoe,” Farrough said. “The parent should have some canoeing experience. The river isn’t a great start to canoeing if you haven’t canoed before. Usually we recommend a pond or a lake, but if the father has been in a canoe once or twice, they should be OK.”

St. Joseph County Parks can be reached at (574) 654-3155.