I am not a hovering daddy. When we go to the park, I am not one of those parents that has to be within fingertip reach of their children at all times. If I ever was like that, having two quickly-mobile children taught me quickly that I can't cover the entire park at once.
Occasionally I get looks from other parents, OK, let's be honest, moms, - seldom do I see a dad who is concerned about how someone else is 'daddy-ing', who must think I am not keeping close enough to The Princess. And 99.99% of the time they are wrong. I am usually pretty quick to notice when The Talker has wandered too far or when The Princess has put herself in mortal danger.
This morning was one of the 0.01% times.
I was chatting with another SAHD when I noticed The Princess was no longer trying to climb the steps of the playscape. So I looked all around the base of the playscape without seeing her. Then I realized, she had climbed up the steps of the playscape, gotten to a landing about three feet off of the ground. She made her way across a bouncy bridge, with no low hand-rail, to another landing. She was getting ready to go headfirst down a slide when I got to her. Her entire adventure lasted maybe 30 seconds.
And once I set her back at the playscape steps, her second trip, via the same route,took less than 15 seconds. Each trip thereafter made even quicker. She wore herself out, without ever getting to slide. She wore me out, too, because after the first trip, I was hovering like a helicopter.
12 years ago
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2 comments:
Last week I had to make a flying catch as my son "Lumpy" decided to run down a slide. Picture a Secret Service Agent diving in front of the President to take a bullet. And yeah, all the mom's looked at me like I was the worst parent ever.
Aww, just bet them that they could not make a catch like that, on the fly.
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