Earning Our Stickers

Last month I read a post on Dads Who Change Diapers, about a dad who earned his stickers by standing by his suffering kid's ER bed. Today that was me, so I had to go and read it again.

You live your life and realize each setback prepares you for a future success, and you learn to take things easy. After all, if you fall, you get back up. You get injured? You go to the doctor. Nothing is a big deal anymore.

Then you have a kid, and one day she falls. A silly little fall, but she's limping. So you go to the doctor and after a day of "monitoring," she sends your girl to get an x-ray. And you see your tiny little girl, who can barely say ten words but one of them is "Hurt," lying down on this huge bed, and you realize nothing has prepared you for that.

She's fine. The worst case would have been a fracture, which in the end isn't a big deal, at least not when compared to some of the stories I read on Twitter and on blogs from other parents. How do these people do it... How do they sit by and watch their little kids on these big beds?

I've earned my stickers today. Didn't cry once. Neither did she.

One hurdle passed, another one coming soon. Our boy will go into surgery later this month. Again, nothing complicated, the doctor says. "30 years, I've never lost a patient."

Lost a patient.

Just let this month be over.

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This Week, We've Been Mostly Watching Elmo

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A Legos Story

He's putting Legos down his poor little sister's shirt, saying, "I'm going to make you look like Superman!" Then he realizes I'm in the room, so he says, "Sometimes Superman has Legos in his shirt."

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Just Another Clown

I saw a link to one of this guy's videos on the DaddysHome Facebook page. What can I say... I fear I might seem a little contradictory here, especially with spending so much time recently battling the windmills at Philips, but I have to admit I don't care how this guy feels about stay-at-home-dads.

I put a couple of videos here, just for reference, but the short version is that there's a sweaty clown on a stage who comes up with biblical references that prove men who stay home to raise kids are not men and that women naturally belong in the home.

Now why don't I care?

What he says is not shared by anyone I know.

What he says is not shared by the mainstream in society.

What he says is not even shared by most Christians.

Sure, he has thousands of followers, but it's a big country, and big-mouthed clowns find an audience. When he forms a militia of equally clownish Tintin-haired characters, I'll feel the need to fight back. Until then, Pastor Mark Driscoll can enjoy his hair, his submissive pathetic wife, his army of brainless followers, and the money he makes out of his hateful lectures.

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The Coolest Dad

A father in my 4-year-old boy's class drops his girl in school and a kid comes up to him.

"Where’s your guitar?" he asks.

"I didn’t bring it today. I’ll bring it tomorrow."

"Are you going to play Cat Stevens again?"

"Well, maybe tomorrow I’ll play Beatles songs"

And then it dawned on me. There are many unknowns in life. In fact, there are very few concrete facts in this changing world. But one thing is clear.

See, I've done things in life. I played in a band. In London. In front of thousands of people! (Well, hundreds.) I jumped off a bridge! I had a near-death experience once. I sleep-walked in a land-mine!

But it's no use. I have to admit--to my disappointment and to that of my boy--I will never be the coolest dad in school.

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