Featured Contributor: Torbs Lindgren
Hmmm…
Double hmmm…
Here we go…
There comes a moment in every parents life when they have to bite the inevitable bullet and admit defeat!
There…I’ve finally said it.
And I’m presently struggling with that concept…BIG TIME. I’m struggling with that concept as I’m now officially (I think), one of those parents!
We are by definition only parents to our kids when they get to a certain age. Nothing else. Just Mum. Just Dad. And we are magically bound, whether we like it or not, by an unwritten, unseen contract. That contract somehow stipulates we are to do what every other superfantastico parent-of-the-year has ever done before us. Without rhyme, without reason…without question! Just Mum. Just Dad.
Unfair?
Perhaps!
Reality?
You bet!
And somewhere in this transitional period where children are 100% dependant upon us, they suddenly get to an age and realize, ‘hey, I’m old enough to take care of myself…I’m a big person now’!
The age varies from kid to kid. Maddy is ten…and she has with staggering bravado just realized it. And I…well I just lost my Cool-Status!
Let me tell you a short story…it goes something like this:
Once upon a time there was a little girl with the biggest, cutest, bluest eyes you have ever seen. We’ll call her Maddy to give the story some edge. Every day at a certain time, she would sit by the same window at the kindergarten in wait for her dear old dad to come and collect her. As soon as she spotted his car, she would dash outside as fast as her little legs would carry her and greet him with the biggest of hugs. And they would hug for a long time, happy to be reunited. Together they would hand in hand walk off into the sunset…and get an ice-cream!
It’s a nice story, isn’t it?
It’s a cool story…
It’s a cool story about a cool kid and a cool dad!
Now fast forward a few years and you end up with a situation whereby the same dear old dad has been banished from even entering the school grounds. Period! Not one foot is to be set inside…ever…because that would only cause embarrassment. The only way he can even get his child to come out, is by dialing a number and hoping his daughter will answer. Only then…and only then will she leave the school to be picked up in traditional fashion.
OK, I exaggerated the last bit a little…but it’s not far off already. I have resigned myself to the fact and do not live under the illusion anymore. My cool days are over. They are dead. Daddy Cool is officially dead!
And it’s a wake up call…a wake up call because it shows my daughter is growing up. She’s only ten, but today’s ten is yesterdays fourteen or fifteen…and things evolve.
And secretly I’m happy…I have the memories…I own them!
And if worse comes to worse and I find myself struggling, I’ll just adopt another kid who will think I am cool!
Slapppshot…tales of a single dad!
Today’s Question: In the eyes of your kids, are you still the cool one?
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Torbs Lindgren – G’day and welcome to slapppshot, the blog ink-slinging the tales of a single dad, his sprightly offspring and their madcap tail-wagging sidekick!
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2nd image via flickr limaoscarjuliet
Lol, You will be the coolest dad ever again. When my children had children, they were amazed how hard it was to be a parent. I not only became cool again, I became very wise. Lol Now I have awesome grandchildren that think I am the coolest ever. Thank you for sharing this cute story at Freedom Fridays.
Thankfully, mine are still young and I am still cool. I wonder when that will phase out.
OMG! This is so heartfelt.. I have a toddler and my mom always tells me even when it gets really hard to enjoy this phase, because you’re going to miss it when they grow up.
This is such a cute story.