One of my earliest memories is of my dad building a play house for us in the back yard. I must have been three years old or so. I remember he was up on top of the thing, a good six feet up in the air, with a bunch of nails and was hammering away. I came toddling out with my little wooden play hammer, and asked if I could help. Obviously it was not a safe environment for a three year old, and I'm sure my dad was hot and tired and working hard. He rejected my offer for help. I distinctly remember my abject disappointment.
I brought this up recently to him, and our reactions to it were amusing because we both kind of reversed our initial feelings. I said that I obviously understood why I couldn't get up there and help out, and he felt disappointed that he was a "bad dad" and that he should have taken the time to let me pound in a nail or something.
So, with that in mind, this afternoon I attacked the weeds that have been choking our side yard. This was not tiny little dandelions in the middle of the lawn, but literally 4-6 food monsters growing in our totally neglected side alley. Allison came out to visit, and saw me working with some clippers, and called for Mommy and asked where her toy pliers were. Diana got them, and I cut up some little pieces of weeds so that she could pick them up with her pliers and put them in the garbage can. She was so cute and so helpful.
(I just re-read this post. The point of this is NOT a comparison of my fathering skills to that of my own dad (that's not a game I'll win), but rather that I'm thankful to be able to apply some lessons learned from the past.)
She's been going through quite a politeness renaissance lately, with lots of pleases and thank yous and your welcomes. We're enjoying it while it lasts.
I brought this up recently to him, and our reactions to it were amusing because we both kind of reversed our initial feelings. I said that I obviously understood why I couldn't get up there and help out, and he felt disappointed that he was a "bad dad" and that he should have taken the time to let me pound in a nail or something.
So, with that in mind, this afternoon I attacked the weeds that have been choking our side yard. This was not tiny little dandelions in the middle of the lawn, but literally 4-6 food monsters growing in our totally neglected side alley. Allison came out to visit, and saw me working with some clippers, and called for Mommy and asked where her toy pliers were. Diana got them, and I cut up some little pieces of weeds so that she could pick them up with her pliers and put them in the garbage can. She was so cute and so helpful.
(I just re-read this post. The point of this is NOT a comparison of my fathering skills to that of my own dad (that's not a game I'll win), but rather that I'm thankful to be able to apply some lessons learned from the past.)
She's been going through quite a politeness renaissance lately, with lots of pleases and thank yous and your welcomes. We're enjoying it while it lasts.
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