Being a pastor, my dad has either performed the funeral for, or had a clergy buddy perform a funeral for every single possible way a person could die.
And Dad's parenting brought this fact out time and time again. "Hey, have fun on the ski trip this weekend! Just remember that woman we knew in Michigan who fell of the chairlift and when she went to stand the chair hit her in the head." Or, "well you can jump on that trampoline, but don't forget that boy who fell off his tramp and will never walk again." (Needless to say, I never ended up jumping very high for fear of losing control and therefore my ability to walk.)
None of this was said with any sort of malice...it was just the truth. Dad actually knew these people (and lots of them) and as a result he parented with a nervousness which I ended up inheriting. You can now catch me saying, "wait, before anyone dives in, do we know how deep the water is right here? I know a woman who once jumped in and broke her leg..." Or, "No. We have to take two cars. Everyone has to have their own seatbelt."
But I have got a confession. My dad has been concerned about our space heater and electric blanket for quite some time (as well as halogen lamps, toaster ovens and flat irons that forget to be turned off.) But the night of the fire in the apartment across the way, we did away with our space heater and our electric blanket realizing the pros just didn't outweigh the cons. (I can hear my dad exhaling a sigh of relief right now.)
But isn't that crazy that it took the real deal before I finally heard what my dad was saying?
Parenting must just be annoying sometimes.
No comments:
Post a Comment