Tuesday, January 21, 2014

A Tickle war! A Pudding Peace!

Well, it has been awhile, but we all knew it was bound to happen at some point.

Yes.

That's right!

A war broke out again in this house.  

I thought for sure that after the last one ended peace would endure. Everyone, got what they wanted. The boys were allowed to stay up a little later and have more lenience, and I got a little more peace and quiet and less chaotic shenanigans that ended up in tears.  It was a win for everyone as long as we all followed the rules we set for each other.

But, like the hooligans they are, my brats are habitual line steppers.

For the last few weeks the toys haven't been being put away, our nap time schedule hasn't been adhered to, sharing has become a thing of the past, and the degradation of all this has culminated into the war that broke out this morning after Mama Bear left for work.

What flint struck the steel to spark it?

I made the mistake of asking the Pizzmeister to pick up some of his toys he stopped playing with an hour before.  Of course, his answer was an immediate, "No!"

So, I told him he'd either pick them up or I would toss them in the trash.

That did it!

His response was an immediate full scale attack.  

I turned around to get another cup of coffee, I heard the unmistakable sound of a toddler war cry, I turned to see what was going on, and the Pizzmeister pounced on me, engaging in a tickle campaign.

Well, I wasn't going to take this lying down, so I immediately launched a counter strike of tickles, which resulted in the pleasant screeches and squeals only little ones can produce.

Little did I know that Two-zy, upon hearing the obvious sounds of tickle battle, decided to drive his pedal car into the mix, knocking me to the ground with the Pizzmeister landing on top of me. Before I could regain my footing, however, I felt the full force of a 1 and a half year old's dive bomb.

That changed everything!

The battle instantly and seamlessly shifted from a tickle battle into a full out "Jump on Daddy while he's Down!" battle.

The odds were in there favor.

What was I going to do?   Jump on them back?!

No, I had no choice, but to wait it out until there was a lull in the action and then make my escape.

Luckily, they tired quickly and needed a pudding break. 

Aaahhh Pudding!  The quintessential peace offering.

Thursday, January 9, 2014

It's 2014, and There are Still Phony Wars on Everything, Even Dads I Guess!

It's a new year, just teeming with possibilities, knowns and unknowns.

Now, as much as I like to declare myself a visionary while playing video games, I am not.  I can't tell you what will happen tomorrow or the next day or the day after that with 100% certainty, but I can guess as well as anybody. And, my guess is that life, as great and shitty as it is, will continue much the same as it has in the past. 

The malcontents will grumble, the optimists will smile brightly, and all the phony "wars," like the "War on Dads," will continue to rage on.

Yes, the latest hot, phony "war" has to do with moms versus dads from what I can tell.  I guess a part of this "war" stems from the dads out there that feel like they have to unfairly prove themselves as legitimate caretakers of their children and active members of their families.

This saddens me!

In my eyes, there is nothing to prove.  You're either an active participant in your child's upbringing and an active member of your family, or you're not.

If you feel like you have to prove your worthiness as a parent to people other than your family, maybe, or yourself, then there might be a problem.

It's just not that healthy to worry so much!

Anyway, the reason I bring this up is because somebody pointed out the latest ads for the Olympics to me, saying that they were all mom focused and pointedly ignored the dad's role in child rearing.

I've seen the ads, and it's true.  Dad's are by and far ignored, but does it matter?


No, it doesn't matter to me anyway.

The ads are tailored to the specific demographic that the companies recognize as their main consumer.  

That's all.

It's not that they don't care about Dads.  They care about money, and they are willing to ignore fathers in these ads in order to get more of it from mothers, their main consumers. In that sense, running this "Thank You, Mom" ad campaign is absolutely brilliant.

Why make it into anything other than a smart marketing ploy?

Being ignored by this ad campaign doesn't equal being at war or otherwise embattled. 

The lack of recognition as a legitimate parental figure doesn't mean there is a "War on dads" either, and this ad campaign really has nothing to do with that anyway. All it is doing is taking a few moments to thank the mothers out there who helped there kids along the way.  

Yes, dads helped too, of course, but that is widely recognized as sports are supposedly a male dominated thing where it is assumed that fathers take a primary interest. It's not, however, as widely recognized that mothers are just as interested and play just as vital a supporting role when it comes to their children and sports as fathers do.   

The fact that these ads take the time to recognize moms in this capacity is poignant not because dads are ignored, but because moms were ignored for so long.





P.s. When us dads are feeling devalued we should take some time to stop and think about what it is like, and has been like, for mothers.  It'll make our gripes seem ridiculous by comparison. Talk about devaluation not being taken seriously by society.