Scraped knees

As a new dad, I’m usually always over protective of my little one.  Sometimes, family members and friends would ask why am I so involved and sheltering? My response would simply be “Why wouldn’t I”?!

I come from an environment where it’s not deemed masculine to be there for every step of the growth process of your child.  It’s called the “mothers job”. I never grasped that concept. To worry about education, health, appointments, schedules, the overall development of a child is a natural gift that I believe all mothers inherit when they start cooking that “bun in the oven” but dads; we need some getting used  to.  That’s why we should receive standing ovations for trying our best to get everything down.

I can’t tell you enough how much our toddler loves exploring and how much it gives me anxiety.  To make matters worse, she’s in her independent phase so she hates her hand being held when we take a stroll. (Oy vey)  If I can place her in a bubble till she’s 35, I’d be fine but that’s not legal .. is it? A lot of the feeling of stress is attributed to being away most of the time, it makes you feel like you’ve missed everything. Time seems to be flying by when I’m away at work. It’s as if on Tuesday morning she’s my little headache, crawling everywhere but when I get back from work, she’s climbing everything and everyone.  Then I look at her mom with so much anger as if she worked some magic to speed up time while I was away. “It was you!! You did this!”

Here’s the real

It’s a great, big world out there that we still have yet to fully discover but some things have gotten old to us adults.  To a toddler, the world is brand new.  They’re experiencing every single detail on this green Earth for the first time so they want to know everything about it.  I thought it was always best to follow my instincts to always shield her from everything that can be a considered harmful but I had to realize that there’s a difference between shielding her from harm and shielding her from progression.  Over the weekend, while taking a stroll around the neighborhood, my daughter asks to get her stroller to walk. Usually, I’m on her like white on rice but this time, I took a step back to just be in the moment with her.  She had complete freedom to explore.  While walking, she fell and scraped her knees. I resisted the urge to run to her with a stretcher and IV bag ready to go. (toughest moment of the year) To my surprise, she got up, examined her wounds and made the decision to come to daddy for a “Boo Boo kiss” (Dad to dad – no one can know about this.)

I guess no matter how young old your kid is, they’ll always know how much you want to protect them but I guess what THEY WANT is for us dads to be in the moment with them.

Btw .. She does not have permission to drive yet.

 

If you enjoyed this, please like, follow and share with your friends/family.  Thanks for taking the time to follow read this journey through parenthood.  Till next time!