MARKING TIME WITH A GANG OF MOMS AND KIDS

I was marking time just the other day with my young kids running around like we were having the best day in our lives.

Then they were at the bus stop waiting for their first day of school. I must have blinked.

One of the joys of being a parent is seeing kids through their growth and learning and standing by them at each stage.

Some call it over-involved, others call it helicopter parenting. What do you call it? I call it preparation for life and what it brings, because it’s bringing it.

I was marking time when the oldest went to the senior prom in a limo with a whole gang of others.

They were all decked out like they were on the red carpet for an awards show.

The guys were at their formal best; the girls were stunning in an ageless way. That’s how proms would be. Now I get it.

The high school prom for me had more of a Halloween party feel since I chose the classic tux with tails costume instead of the usual rainbow of lovely pastels from lime green, to pink, to blue.

My tux didn’t fit. Instead of a James Bond look, I had Jethro Bodine working.

Marking Time In The Backyard

After a few more blinks, fast forward to yesterday. I stopped by my oldest kid’s house to say hello, hold baby, and drop a few things off.

I knew they had company and looked forward to see how things were. Three of the women in the backyard had been in the prom limo.

One of them had a two year old, another had a one year old, and one had a five month old baby.

The two year old was a runner who liked checking out new things. I knew his mom was doing it right when the kid found books and got excited. Not a toy, a screen, but a book, a kid’s book, and he was into it.

That’s not an accident.

The one year old had a play pen set up where he could pull up and stand and hang onto the edge before crashing down and starting over.

His mom sat nearby with a sharp eye on her boy, but not that you could tell. The kid was in sure hands.

Waiting it out so I didn’t look like a desperate baby hog, I found just the right moment for baby time. With a secure grip, not too tight, not too loose, I found a seat for baby and me to watch the show of moms and kids together.

Historically, it’s been a good show ever since the first two moms on earth found time together with their kids.

I don’t remember this sort of thing when I was a kid, haven’t seen any pictures, but I do remember my kids with groups.

As a newly minted Granddad I’m one happy camper

The important parts of raising baby seem like common sense: Change baby’s diapers, feed baby, keep baby warm. Parents can still have a life, but baby comes first.

Understand the idea of ‘baby first’ isn’t the same idea for everyone, and if it is, the follow through isn’t always the same.

Men who consider childcare women’s work are lame at best, negligent at worst. A proud daddy who doesn’t participate in every part of baby life that mom does is missing out.

Bruce Springsteen needed his wife to tell him he was missing out on his kids when he stayed up late and got up late.

The old rocker amended his ways. If he didn’t, who would have known, but being a part of his kids’ morning was important enough to note.

Dave Grohl of Foo Fighter and Nirvana fame said he was a mini-van dad at home, making kids’ lunches and dropping them off at school.

What would Jim Morrison do, or Jimi Hendrix, or other gods in the rock pantheon? Maybe they would have rounded into decent parents if they’d had the chance.

All parents are not created equal. Some are up to the task, some only up for the easy parts of the task, and some only up for the conceiving part then disappear.

Do yourself a favor if you’re a dad and step up if you haven’t already. Know that every baby in the world in every nation wants the same thing and don’t get it, but you can give it to your kid.

What is this secret ingredient? Time. You can’t make it stand still, go back in it, but if you’re marking time on the best days, you’ll get past the other ones.