If we are honest with ourselves, anyone who has had the pleasure of having a child in their home has been confronted with situations where it took everything you had to hold back the laughter for the betterment of the situation. I experienced one such moment a couple years ago, which still causes me to break out in laughter at the mere thought of the situation.
It was not abnormal in our household on that fateful day. The day came with fun, laughter, and a rather large amount of our children avoiding their chores at all cost. Any parent knows the difficulties which are the result of trying to get your kids to clean up anything let alone their bedrooms. On this date, momma made it plain that the girls needed to get their bedroom cleaned up and our youngest needed to stop procrastinating and get her hair brushed. Plainly it was stated that failure to comply would result in the loss of their beloved iPads or some similar devastating punishment which would surely bring on the end of the world in the child’s mind.
Mid way through my wife giving the girls some direction, Momma directed our youngest child to get upstairs and get her hair brushed. This simple request, although not unreasonable, didn’t sit well with the child and she, in a seemingly opening of the floodgates, began breathing heavily, and although she turned towards her bedroom she remained standing, unmovable, in a kind of momentary thought of just how far she was willing to take this battle.
You know the kind of look which although no sane father would ever admit publicly, was a look which brought about fear. The look when seeing it from a woman, the man would be best served by simply stepping back, regrouping and finding a way to appease the beast which was brewing and preparing to go forth throughout the land destroying all who were in its path. Yeah, that look of a warrior preparing for battle with the ultimate mission of total devastation… that was the look on my seven year old princesses face.
As the cold sweats continued I recognized that my fatherly duties including taking a hard stance and being as supportive as possible, to my wife, to ensure my continued survival and to ensure the warrior face didn’t transfer from my child to my beloved wife. As I rose my child had seemingly made the decision to begin walking upstairs in an apparent form of compliance with her mothers wishes. As I silently walked behind my child, she was unaware of my presence.
As I entered the doorway to the stair well my child was approximately half way up the stair case. I silently watched as she made her way up the stairs, stomping heavily to ensure her mother was well aware of her displeasure. It was at that moment that I lost all ability to continue onward. As I entered the stairwell I could hear my child, conversing with herself. Simply said she reiterated to herself, angrily, that she was not doing it and she didn’t care what “mom said”. Hearing those words stopped me in my path. Looking back, I am unsure if the words stopped me because truly, it was really funny to hear the child find her voice through frustration as it burst forth because in her mind brushing her hair wasn’t important, or if it was the fact that the child hasn’t learned the art of avoiding angering the momma bear.
In the end, Riy’s hair got brushed, the room got cleaned, and Leona and I had a good laugh about our child’s words and actions. To this day, I think about the incident and think about how many valuable lessons I am afforded because of this thing called parenting. Throughout this journey called life we are confronted with decisions regarding tasks we are asked to complete and requested others make of us. Some are valid, some in our minds are ludicrous. Regardless, our dicision to or not to comply bears with them a result. Sometimes its simply inconvenience and some times its awakening the bear. Avoid awakening the bear while remaining true to yourself.
