At some point in the middle of a bedtime story it hit me. No dads. I had literally read half a dozen books to my daughter, and the only dad I could remember was wearing a suit and tie and headed to work.

It bugged me. And it wasn’t helping my case.

My little girl was at that age when mom leaving meant big-time tears but dad leaving meant, well, not much.

To be clear, I didn’t want her crying for either of us. But my wife and I did the same amount of feeding and diapering, of hugging and kissing, of playing and teaching. If the water works were coming on, didn’t dad’s departure merit at least one outburst?

If all her storybooks showed was the loveable mom and kid combo, then no wonder there were no separation woes when it came to dad.

It was also dated and inaccurate. Mom was much more apt to be headed to the office in a suit than I was. Mom was just as likely as dad to toss the ball or play the ‘run-and-catching’ game. In terms of daring feats at the playground, well, mom has always been less a nervous wreck than dad.

So I did what any busy parent might do. I grumbled about it and went with the animal books. And, yes, I tried to ignore the fact that most of the animals loving their babies were moms.

Then Father’s Day came along. And with it, new books. (Did I mention that mom rocks?)

I think I got five or six books, but two of them still stand out. If you’re looking for a last-minute Father’s Day gift, I highly recommend them.

• Todd Parr’s The Daddy Book, with lines like, “Some daddies make cookies. Some daddies stop for doughnuts.” (Also apparently all daddies like sugary carbs.)
• J.D. Lester & Hiroe Nakata’s Daddy Calls Me Doodlebug, which features animal dads and the quirky nicknames they make up for their kids.
  

The latter became part of a yearlong bedtime ritual. Every night, the last book of the night would be Doodlebug. And even though she was only just beginning to put together sentences, she could recite almost the entire book. I’m sorry, but listen to any two-year-old say “Doodlebug” and your heart immediately turns to mush.

And whether it was the books or the fact that she was getting older, it wasn’t long before the waterworks turned on when dad had to leave. Of course, I immediately regretted ever wanting any share of it.

But, we kept the books.

posted by Jay

No comments