kid dynamics

Dylan,

Today I paid you a visit during the school day for a special Father's Day event. We played soccer and watched people toss horseshoes. We also took a turn at the table where kids got to lather their Dad's faces with shaving cream and scrape it off with tongue depressors. The latter was something I had hoped to maybe avoid, but now am glad I got roped into. You were very much engaged, and I had a great vantage point from which to see the concentration on your face as you went about your work literally right in front of my nose.

When i first showed up I sat and watched you kicking balls into a small net with a few other kids. You didn't see me for a minute or two. I observed some behavior from you that I recognized, and had you been talking to me or acting that way towards me, I would have quickly discouraged it, but I saw that it was the appropriate thing for you to do wrt another, slightly older and not ideally-behaving kid. I was glad to see you say no to him, and to do so insistently, when he basically wanted the whole play area to himself.

It reminds me that I need to raise you to interact with the entire world around you, and not just teach you how to interact with me however I like best.

Dad