rock-a-bye baby.

dads are funny.

they don't quite know how to parent their children. they break the rules. they disregard structure. they come up with really strange solutions to child-rearing problems.

today, one of the moms told me a funny story about a kid in my class. apparently, when she left school on tuesday, her dad picked her up. and she fell asleep in the car as soon as they left the parking lot. when they got home, the dad was afraid to wake her up. he didn't want her to freak out and cry a lot. instead of taking that risk, he...left her in the car. with a window cracked so she could breathe. and he made dinner. while she slept in the car.

what.

it made me think of my dad. he never did anything like that. but things were different when mom was gone. one memory that really stands out is when he used to rock me to sleep. that sounds awesome, right? it was. pretty much the best feeling ever. and it doesn't sound like a problem, does it? it was. my mom would be gone at night sometimes...i can't remember why. i guess she was helping at church or something. and when she was gone, we knew we'd be getting rocked to sleep by daddy. i think we only did it when she was gone, but i'm not positive. i just have very vivid memories of hearing her car pull into the driveway, and then sprinting to the bedroom and pretending to be asleep. my mom didn't want us staying up late, or getting out of bed after they put us to sleep. that's why we had to hide it from her. we had a way of getting out of bed and charming dad into rocking us, just so we could stay up later. she saw right through us. so it had to be a secret.

it probably wasn't. she probably knew. but how mad could she get? can you think of anything more precious than him rocking us to sleep, and us begging him to do it?

dads are funny.