The Mission Impossible theme plays as we run through the house. Hiding behind the big red chair, ducking under the table, slinking along the wall to cut the angle and make ourselves less visible. We move stealthy. We make it through the TV room, into the back bathroom and shut the door just in time…
Some day he’ll ask me, “Dad, did we really used to sneak through the house just to go brush out teeth in the second bathroom sink?” He’ll scratch his head, trying to make his memories of doing something completely ridiculous jive with what he knows makes practical sense.
“Yes, son, we did,” I’ll say. “And you loved it.” He giggles the whole way, nearly falls down in fits of mirth as we hide from unknown assailants, dodge non existent obstacles, and attempt stealth while I hum nonsense danger music while he clutches a toothbrush in one hand and a tube of kids toothpaste in the other.
But I imagine all dads do ridiculous silly things with their kids that will likely be looked back on with fuzzy incredulity by a teenager, or young adult some day. Every Tuesday, my son and I, and sometimes friends (and sometimes even Mom) have Dude Night. We go out for dinner, or have something special at home while mom gets to work on her craft projects out in her studio, or generally have a night off. This week we stole my dad’s pickup truck and drove it down into the pasture on the south Reno ranch where we live. Once in a nice rustic setting, we dropped the tailgate and ate El Pollo Loco chicken and cornbread there in the pasture.
My wife thought it was silly, I thought it was silly. My son thought it was awesome. We all thought it was fun. After dinner we put away the food, got out our shovels and filled the back of Grandpa’s truck with horse manure. Me tossing big chunks into the bed, and my son carrying single puckeys over to the tailgate and piling them up for me, while mom laughed at us and guided our little ranch hand.
Tooth Brushing Adventures, Tailgaiting in the back yard, these are a couple things that we do to silly up an otherwise unremarkable night or morning. And it works. It’s impossible for him to fight toothbrushing when he’s having an adventure, and impossible for him to not want to eat chicken and cornbread when he’s sitting on the tailgate of a pick up truck with his dad and a shovel.
Tell me I’m not the weirdo here. Tell me other dad’s do silly stuff like this.
You do right?
-Mike
Absolutely precious write up of great silly adventures. I love it!!!
……Aunt Mary
Absolutely precious write up of great silly adventures. I love it!!!
……Aunt Mary
LOL Great post. Yes, I think all dads do crazy stuff like this with their kids. Lasting memories.
That’s awesome. It’s hard to do all these things while being present in the moment, without taking a sneak peak at our phones, but kids notice everything. And whether or not they grow up remembering all their adventures, they’ll remember that you were present.
Great stuff. Your son’s right – the pasture tailgating is awesome. I work a lot of silly voices into these kinds of things and I kind of can’t wait to see the reaction they get when my girls are teenagers.