This past Sunday was Father’s Day and I am very fortunate to have a few great father figures in my life.
Of course there is my own father, the man who taught me about responsibility and the true meaning of hard work. This is the guy who took us camping when we were kids and taught us how to make a real campfire. Now that I have my son there are times I open my mouth and say something to him and my dad’s words fall out. Last week my son was running down the driveway and he fell and scraped his knee; after a reasonable amount of cuddling and tears I looked at my son’s knee and said, “Pfft, it’s a long way from your heart, you’re fine.” My dad used to say this all the time to my siblings and myself as children and now we are saying it to our children. I have no idea why the distance from your heart makes the injury more or less significant but I guess it is a severity factor.
I am also lucky to have a great father-in-law, he is the man who raised my husband to be the man he is. He has a great sense of humor and is an awesome grandfather to my son; I can’t wait to see the all the trouble my son and father-in-law are going to get into in upcoming years. I am excited for my son to get a little older and go help grandpa on the farm, just like I did with my own grandfather and I cherish those memories.
Then there is my husband. I couldn’t have asked for a better dad for our son. There are so many traits that make my husband a wonderful father. I’m pretty confident I have the best partner to navigate this “parenting” thing with. I feel like my husband and I balance each other out nicely. We each have certain attributes we bring to the table and what one of us is lacking the other has an abundance of. My husband is patient, and patience is something I tend to have a shortage of. He will spend hours doing something with our son. He just slows down and shows him how to do things step by step. My husband is also fairly laid back; I tend to be a little more intense in certain situations, and conditions I find aggravating don’t even faze my husband. My husband will be very serious when it is warranted but for the most part he is a fun, laid back and chill dad.
When my son was younger he would always run to me and call for mom. I now realize the reason he did it was because I was the keeper of the food. Mom used to be the be-all and end-all but the older my son gets it’s all about dad. I become second choice whenever dad is around and I joke with my husband that my son does this because my hubby gets to be the cooler parent. Mom says things like, “Eat your vegetables,” and “Clean up your toys,” and dad gets to say things such as, “Who wants ice cream?” and “Let’s play with trucks.” And while I joke about it with my husband I am so thankful my son has a strong, caring and compassionate man to look up to. Plus, it is great when it’s time for a diaper change and instead of reaching for mom’s hand my son rushes over to dad.
It’s one of the nice perks.
Christina Komives is sales manager for The Wetaskiwin Pipestone Flyer and writes a regular column for the paper.