Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Thank You, Daddy!

In everything I do, good or bad, I never thought someone would ever notice or appreciate it. Since each day passed, those busy days, doing the house chores become seemingly a routine work for me. My wife being so exhausted at her work, sometimes consumes most of her time sleeping. She’s working so hard to earn for our planned vacation in California. I believe she deserves a good treat whenever she’s having her rest day, that’s why I don’t like to oblige her in helping me around the house. Sometimes, you cannot avoid frustration at home, especially when you are so tired doing all the work. There I will find myself struggling with my son, pleading , negotiating and even punishing him for his ‘supposed to be’ child behavior. How can you keep your cool if everything you ask him to do, he opposes. My wife told me that it’s part of being a toddler, saying ‘No’ to him, is like triggering his curiosity and giving him opportunity to make him do it again and again. This provoked my undying theoretical thinking. So, instead of saying No, I tried ‘Yes”. I told my son, “Ok son, do it, come on, do it!” BUT it didn't do the trick. Silly me, I suppose reverse psychology is not yet applicable for him. The major of all the major jobs I do is taking care of my son. I actually know all the characters in Sesame Street, that means I cannot watch what I want if he’s awake. We also share computer, it’s like 90/10. I’m the 10. So you cannot blame me if sometimes I’m acting weird, I’m beginning to like being a kid again. I even asked my wife to buy RC as Clarence’ Christmas gift. My wife just said, “In your dreams!” c”,)

There’s one time, when I got so angry because my son messed up on his food, I gave him a time out. I felt some guilt for I know he didn’t mean to play with his food and he doesn’t deserve that time out. Later that night when I’m preparing him for bed and wiping his body with a warm towel, he then suddenly said to me, “Thank You, Daddy!” …… Whoa!!! That sweet, sweet little voice of him really struck me up. All my exhaustion for all the day’s work has been replaced with gladness. We taught him how to say thank you whenever he receives something. It’s like a required response, actually. But this is different, I don’t know how he knew that he should thank me for the good things I’m doing for him. “You’re welcome!” I responded “You will always be”. This time I know he means it. His innocence mind makes it real for me. That’s the best reward I received for being a parent. Appreciation from my 2 year old son.





2 comments:

sunny said...

thats so sweet! yep, toddler period is very critical, this is the stage wherein the child seeks for autonomy to discover the world around him. this is also full of negatism like saying no and guardian testing....But this stage is also the best time for you and your kid to spend quality time together, teaching each others about the value of life and the appreciation of things like the simple thank you.....good luck buddy! got an awesome kid!

Aethen said...

he's so cute. he looks like my nephew and even me.super.