When my daughter was growing up we didn’t always see eye to eye. And much of the time, I’m ashamed to say in hindsight, she wasn’t the one who was wrong. I’ve always had … let’s face it, issues … and sometimes she suffered for them.
But I did at least try to be a good dad. Back when she was a little girl there was a chain of fun places called “Leaps and Bounds,” and she thought they were really cool. Franchise owners would lease big storefronts in strip malls and fill them to the walls and ceilings with big plastic tunnel mazes. They were made for kids, and not for adults. But when the kid is very small, she will need occasional help. You could get lost in there. So ol’ dutiful one-legged Joel would dutifully crawl in there, dutifully failing to keep up with his rambunctious and not-at-all dutiful daughter.
I’d almost forgotten about that until now. My daughter has grown into a beautiful, remarkably issues-free young matron with a rambunctious daughter of her own, and it seems the play tunnel concept isn’t as dead as I assumed. Got this email this morning, reproduced in part:
Remember that place in Michigan? I’m at a kids birthday party at a play place right now, and I have so much more respect for you crawling through those tunnels with me. Some of those spaces are *small*. Good obstacle course training, though.
Heh. That was thoughtful.
Funny how much better we look when they get older and wiser, although my step daughter still thinks I’m about half nuts and the grandkids refer to me as silly grammy.
When my boys were small, we sometimes brought home furniture boxes and made cardboard tunnels (castles, boats, all sorts of things) all over the house. They played in them for days, usually, and we went through a lot of cheap duct tape. One year our pack built a castle and tunnel maze for a Cub Scout jamboree and won first prize.
Some of our fondest memories. I need to ask my youngest son if he ever does that with his two boys. 🙂