My wife and I certainly have our hands full. Between our jobs and raising five state of the art sleep interference devices, we find that we have very little time just for ourselves. As I’m sure you very well know, parenting is a 24/7 gig. Anyway, last night we had finally gotten the kids off to bed, and were enjoying a rare, quiet, adult conversation in the living room. An actual real live conversation were there were no paper dolls, Transformers, My Little Pony, or Little Einsteins mentioned at all.
Suddenly, our conversation was interrupted by sleep interference device #2, the male six year old model. We heard him sneaking through the dining room and approaching the living room where we were talking. We were reclining in our huge bean bag chair, across from the darkened television set.
He poked his head into the living room, looked at us, looked at the turned off television, and asked a silly question. “Are you guys watching a movie?” My wife and I looked at each other for a moment, glanced at the television, and I answered him.
“Yeah, we’re watching the best movie ever. It’s called, “Dark and Quiet”. Do you want to watch with us?” I asked.
“Shhhhh!” my wife added, “This is the darkest part!”
“And the quietest,” I chimed in, as we both stared intently at the turned off television screen.
You could see the wheels in his mind turning. He really wasn’t sure if we were serious or pulling his leg. “Can I REALLY watch it with you?” he wanted to know.
“You can watch as long as you sit quietly.” I told him without taking my eyes off of the TV.
He plopped himself down between us, and the three of us sat looking at the screen quietly for half a minute. My wife and I could hear the uncertainty in his voice when he asked, “Is this a REAL movie?”
“Yes. It’s called “Dark and Quiet”. We’ve already told you this.”
He turned back towards the screen and was quiet again for a time. Then he started to snicker. He had finally decided that we were fooling around with him. We couldn’t contain ourselves any longer. The three of us laughed until we cried.
I certainly don’t want my son coming out all of the time to watch, “Dark and Quiet” with us, but sometimes Dads, you can overcome those frustrating moments with a little levity. Lack of privacy is definitely in the job description of being a parent. Dads, we need to set boundaries, but every once in awhile, a little reverse psychology goes a long way.