{"id":283,"date":"2014-06-14T12:01:35","date_gmt":"2014-06-14T16:01:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wallyword.com\/?p=283"},"modified":"2015-08-09T12:42:46","modified_gmt":"2015-08-09T16:42:46","slug":"whos-your-daddy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wallyword.com\/?p=283","title":{"rendered":"Who’s your Daddy?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Retro-FathersDay-Images-Hammock-Graphics-Fairy\"<\/a>\"KFRG\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI don’t know what’s more exhausting about parenting: the getting up early, or acting like you know what you’re doing.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2015 Jim Gaffigan, from his book, Dad Is Fat<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

With Father\u2019s Day upon us, it seemed appropriate to have a Father\u2019s Day post.\u00a0 Aside from Jim Gaffigan\u2019s musings on fatherhood, I\u2019m inspired also by Jimmy Fallon who tweeted this week requesting comments on the “worst advice your father ever gave you” \u2013 some were hilarious and really brought me back to thinking about my own father and my transition into another job where I\u2019m uniquely under-qualified.<\/p>\n

Jimmy\u2019s own tweet went something like, \u201cDon\u2019t worry about striking out son, at least we\u2019ll get to go home early.\u201d<\/p>\n

To be fair, my own experience as a father has actually been tremendous.\u00a0 From early sleepless nights when the kids were young, to even more sleepless nights when they get older and are out in the evening \u2013 it\u2019s basically a job designed for insomniacs.\u00a0 Don\u2019t kid yourself (pun intended), the skill sets for this role are patience, a controllable gag reflex, a sixth sense about impending danger, patience, diplomacy skills, patience, trust, a sense of humor\u2026and oh, did I mention patience?<\/p>\n

The best moments are really when you watch them grow up \u2013 crawling, walking, eating, making friends, going to school, playing sports or extra-curricular activities, gaining a sense of humor, handling disappointments and becoming real adults.\u00a0 Despite the ups and downs, they really become your favorite people in life!<\/p>\n

Parents today are a hell of a lot more sensitive to our children\u2019s needs than the old days. Part of it may be due to growing up in a household with a father with an iron hand, or maybe we are not the primary bread-winners and choose to stay home, or we are just PC people who follow the norm of society. \u00a0When they are babies we boil the first child\u2019s pacifier when it touches the floor, and by the third child, we just wipe it off on our pants and jam it back in their mouth.\u00a0 Some of us fathers carry our kids in backpacks, front packs, fanny packs or drive them around in the stroller equivalent of a Porsche.\u00a0 Those of us from the Baby Boom generation can\u2019t even imagine our fathers doing any of this, in fact I think Mom\u2019s back then pretty much raised the kids and Dad didn\u2019t get involved until there was nothing to \u201cwipe off\u201d anymore.<\/p>\n

In my youth, where a bicycle was our XBox, we\u2019d leave the house in the morning and only swing back for lunch and then later for dinner. Unlike today, voicing one\u2019s opinion under the age of 21 wasn\u2019t a smart option.\u00a0 The thought of talking back to my father was not even on my list of allowable mistakes.\u00a0 Dad, although very good-natured in general, was a disciplinarian when necessary. Spankings today are cause for litigation, but, have to admit Dad gave me a good spanking once when I did something wrong – and actually he never had to do it again. From that moment on, when I was bad and he asked me to get the paddle from the kitchen drawer, I\u2019d collapse and spent more time crying that I would have with a spanking (with my parents trying to contain their laughter).<\/p>\n

Sure there were many more moments which were great with my father; ice-cube and water fights in the kitchen, at a stop light where some idiot leaned on the horn just as the light turns green only to see my father put the car in park and come back to ask \u201cwas there something you wanted?\u201d, learning how to train dogs (although I\u2019m horrible at it now), learning how to make a dry Manhattan (see if your 10-year-old can do that.)<\/p>\n

Never one to fear voicing his opinion, my father had a real knack for \u201ctelling it like it is.\u201d\u00a0 One story still cracks me up to this day, and sums up Dad for me:<\/p>\n

Picture the local town pool in the summer.\u00a0 My brother and I went to Day Camp there and afterward were told to head to the main pool area to meet our parents. My mother and father and their buddies would show up at noon each day with a thermos of what today\u2019s kids call \u201cMommy & Daddy juice\u201d and spend the afternoon sunning at the pool and getting a \u201cgoon\u201d on.\u00a0 All of us kids avoided this crowd as much as possible!<\/p>\n

The story goes that we\u2019d had the same Pool Director for several years, and he left early one season and was replaced by one of the local high school coaches\/physical education teachers.\u00a0 I think he was probably the football coach; big stocky guy, a bit gruff and imposing.\u00a0 Unlike the previous Director, nobody seemed to notice this guy \u2013 it was as if he were never around the pool and the lifeguards were handling everything.<\/p>\n

The parents, loaded up with Mom and Dad juice would complain daily in their group chatter noting, \u201cwho is this pool director, has anyone seen him, does he even come to work here?\u201d<\/p>\n

One day my father is up in the vestibule by the snack bar looking out over the pool area.\u00a0 It\u2019s a particularly hot day and he\u2019s eating an ice cream standing next to a stranger, also eating an ice cream.\u00a0 A little bit of small talk ensues like this:<\/p>\n

Dad:<\/strong>\u00a0 \u201cHot day and this ice cream really helps.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stranger:<\/strong> \u201cNo kidding, the pool is really packed today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dad:<\/strong> \u201cYeah, it is most days and we spend a lot of time here as our kids are on the swim team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stranger:<\/strong> \u201cReally, well – how do you think the pool is running this year?\u201d<\/p>\n

Dad:<\/strong> \u201cI guess it\u2019s really going along nicely as it always seems to, but you know, apparently there\u2019s a new Pool Director here, and nobody\u2019s seen him as yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stranger:<\/strong> \u201cDo you know who I am?\u201d<\/p>\n

Dad:<\/strong> \u201cNo\u201d<\/p>\n

Stranger:<\/strong> \u201cWell, I\u2019m Joe Smith, the new Pool Director\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Dad (with a grin):<\/strong> \u201cOh really, so where the Hell have you been?\u201d<\/p>\n

Stranger was speechless, and then slipped into a \u201chave been very busy lately, but will be around more\u201d off the cuff answer.<\/p>\n

That was Dad, don\u2019t back down, but do it with a smile.<\/p>\n

So, I\u2019m no fatherhood expert, but I\u2019ve pretty much taken most of the curriculum without earning a degree (think that\u2019s an honorary degree when your own kids have children). There\u2019s no handbook on being successful in this job except to pay attention to them, be interested in what they do, talk to them, love them whether they are great or unreasonable, and, oh did I mention\u2026..be patient?!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Happy Father\u2019s Day!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cI don’t know what’s more exhausting about parenting: the getting up early, or acting like you know what you’re doing.\u201d \u2015 Jim Gaffigan, from his book, Dad Is Fat With Father\u2019s Day upon us, it seemed appropriate to have a Father\u2019s Day post.\u00a0 Aside from Jim Gaffigan\u2019s musings on fatherhood, I\u2019m inspired also by Jimmy Fallon who tweeted this week… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[13,12,17],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2Clfm-4z","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wallyword.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wallyword.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wallyword.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wallyword.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wallyword.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=283"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/wallyword.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":321,"href":"http:\/\/wallyword.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283\/revisions\/321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wallyword.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wallyword.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wallyword.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}