Parenting is a Return to Childhood - Sort of

I can't tell you the last time I made a sand castle before this. I can tell you one thing, though, it didn't have a hurricane dike made of seaweed and sticks, driftwood reinforced walls, or a lagoon. Yes, I understood the effects of erosion much better than the last time I built one of these, as well as a few ways to mitigate it. One thing that hadn't changed, however, was the fascination of building it.

Both of my sons took a keen interest in it, and wanted to participate in any way they could. My feelings on that oscillated between anxiety over their lack of seaside engineering skills, and the desire for them to cultivate that same lifelong fascination that still lived within me. I found things for them to do, like put shells and feathers (flags) on top of the structure.

The greatest thing was that there was no shame or embarrassment in doing such a thing, because my kids were around. Having kids gives you a free pass to do the things that you loved as a child, and still love, but which are not normally socially acceptable for adults.

Like playing on playgrounds:

Or going sledding:

Or going to the zoo:

Jack was 16 days old here on his first trip to the zoo. One lady came up to my wife and me when we were in line for the little train, and asked, "How old is your baby?" When I told her, she said, "That's awesome!" I believe she was referring not to him as much as the fact that we, as parents, brought him there when there was no chance he'd get anything out of it. Indeed, the zoo was for us, and the kid was a shallow excuse to relive the fascination we experienced as kids.

Social norms may not allow adults to take a plastic disk to the top of the city sledding hill, but they certainly cannot destroy the fun of it. I haven't had this much fun since before middle school, when everything was about being cool. One thing about being cool is that there is no joyous passion in it. I have enthusiastically welcomed this new phase of life, where I can be the goofy dad.

Of course, parenthood also brings responsibilities, and knowledge of how injuries occur, and the incessant demands of schedules. At the end of the day, we have to work and worry and shop and clean. We have to teach our kids how to one day become boring adults. There are a few moments though, when we don't have to do anything like that. We must seize those moments, not only to allow our kids to express their wonder at life, but to allow ourselves to do the same.