Sunday, June 16, 2013

The Father's Day Blog

If you're doing it right your kids laugh a lot and smile all the way to their teeth and think about things when you're not around.

You want your kid to be aware that her/his tiny, fragile body is made of the exact same stuff way out in space, so they're automatically superheroes with cosmic powers. In this way they will regard you, O' big, cool dude, as Galactus. What kid won't squee thinking his dad's Galactus?

You are in awe of their imaginations and have learned it's to your benefit to slow down and really listen to what they say.

If you're doing it right you're not trying to teach them that aggression is strength, and the phrase "toughen them up" does not compute.

If you're doing it right they like you and you like them. Together you're like Wolf & Cub: confident as a seed, silent as ancestral memory rustling high leaves, fluid in mind and deed as water embracing rock, and possessed of love that shames villains the world over.


I've said it before and meant it: I'm just an uncle. I don't pretend to know how trying kids can be 24/7/365. Parents know. And any parent able to keep it real and give their kid a sense of wonder to scratch 'neath the surface of daily sludge deserves way more than a collective Hallmark card. That calls for heartfelt, deep, sincere THANKS.

Happy day to all the dads and moms under the bamboo hats.