Parenting Defined

In the back of a church that had no crying room, the zone defense a bunch of us Dads were employing to corral our children completely collapsed. We switched back to man to man coverage, and I had an epiphany while following my daughter, who had just learned to walk.

She toddled aimlessly along, drunken baboon like, appearing for all the world that she was about to pitch onto her face at any moment. For a large majority of the time, she managed to right herself at the last minute and charge ahead.

I walked cautiously behind her trying to maintain the proper balance between:

A) Being far enough back that I wouldn’t interfere with her progress and learning.

And

B) Being close enough that I could catch her if she fell.

As I tried to locate the impossible perfect point between the two I realized,
“I’m going to experience this sensation about her for the rest of my life.”