(Non) Idiot Dad

From June 22,2005

Idiot Dad
So the poor kid who was lost in Utah has his dad to blame him for being lost for so long. Idiot dad. Dad told son not to talk to strangers, because they'd carry him off.

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Fortunutely, I didn't teach my son such foolishness.

The family spent about two weeks earlier this summer travelling around the West, through Nevada and Idaho to Glacier National Park, then down through Yellowstone to my brother's weekend getaway on Bear Lake on the Utah/Idaho border, then back through the Bonneville Salt Flats back home. It was great fun. Folk can read all about it here:

http://mercerpreston.blogspot.com

We had the rented van 'til a few days after the trip, in part due to midcourse correction on the trip which shorted it a day, and because we wanted to use it to carry bookshelves and other stuff back from the Ikea furniture store near Berkeley. So we decided to spend a day and a half at Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, then back up to Ikea on the way home. It was triple digits here in Sacramento, so the cooling shoreside relief was mighty welcome.

Santa Cruz beach is big. And fun. So much fun that Leroy got separated from us while we romped around like maniacs. After a brief search, we contacted the nearest lifeguard tower and told him our son was missing. "You must be Leroy's parents", the guard said nonchalantly. "He's at Tower 3. We'll drive him back."

Turned out that once Leroy realized he'd gotten separated, he looked around briefly, then went up to the lifeguard tower and turned himself in. He gave some pretty detailed descriptions too. The lifeguard laughed as he drove up, telling Alice, "So you're a teacher, huh?" When asked to describe us, Leroy replied, "They wear glasses!"

Moral to the story: is that if I were one of those weirdos who told my son never to talk to anyone he doesn't know, he wouldn't known to go to the lifeguard tower, which returned him to us will little muss or fuss, just a bit of worry. We train our six-year-old with happy feet where to go for help if he needs it. As a result, he's less likely to be carried off by weirdos and Gypsies. And we won't run from people looking for him on the trail.

This is probably the biggest thing we gain from relying on fair and balanced NPR instead of Fox40 for our news. We can see the world as it truly is. Full of more people who want to help than hurt, and to help our son use this fact when he needs to. I'm a good daddy.