Am I an absent parent?

We don't get a lot of snow in Southern California.  In fact, we don't see any in San Diego, but occasionally a winter storm will blow through and drop a few inches of snow in the mountains to the East.  When this happens, two things occur: 1) chains are required to drive on all mountain roads and 2) everyone from the city drives up to the mountain on the weekend to revel in the snow.  Some even load the back of their truck with the snow to bring back home.

The other day, I decided to take the family to Mount Laguna for some sledding.  The first thing we realized was that we had to dig out all our winter gear.  After that, we realized we didn't even own a sled.  We borrowed two sleds from our neighbor and off we went for the hour drive to the sledding hill.

After parking alongside the road with every other city nut, we piled out and I pulled the sleds out of the car.  My son looked at them and asked, "What's that Daddy?"

What's that?!  This is when I realized I was not doing my job as a father.  It's like being asked what fishing is, or how to throw a baseball.  After this he asked me if I could show him how to make a snowball.

A snowball!  He's 5 years old and I have never shown his how to make a snowball!

I should turn in my fatherhood license.  Before that though, I should show him how to fish.

Tough job

I have often said that parenting is the toughest job you'll love. Well this weekend, the tough far outweighed the love part. Leaving me reaching for the bottle, the wine bottle that is.

"Daddy, I cleaned up all the milk I spilled. And Chiquita is licking up the rest off the floor."

"How much milk did you spill?"

"Not much, it was in the medium."