Cool Dad Award

I meant to post this yesterday, but the day got away from me. Yesterday morning I was awarded the "Cool Dad" award. I was so proud. Here is how it happened. When I dropped Spencer and Bailey at the bus stop a gaggle of kids were across the street sliding on a puddle of ice. My kids, of course, wanted to run over and play too.

I was the only "parent" at the bus stop this morning. I figured that, as long as they were out of the road it would be alright. So, I walked my kids over to the group of children and they started kicking and sliding on the ice. I stood guard to keep them out of the street.

Eventually one of the other children said "Spencer's Dad is cool. Mrs. [Roberts] would make us stop playing over here". When I heared that I felt both happy and embarrassed. I mean, hey, I was just called cool by another 8 year old kid. That is quite an honor. But, at the same time, I was not acting like a scrooge (a.k.a. adult) either. So, I started to count down from 30 in my head before telling the kids to get back across the street.

By the time I got to 20 one of the kids kicked his foot through the ice and started splashing muddy water on me and some of the other kids. With that I let everyone know it was time to get back to the bus stop. None of them complained as they walked in single file across the street with me playing crossing guard. Some of the kids started politely chatting with me. I felt like a father hen, the hero of the day, superman. It was cool. The bus arrived almost 1 minute earlier than usual, which shortened my cloud ride. The kids got on the bus and I was still feeling the buzz of being a "cool dad".

Of course I bragged about it all day at the office.