Every dad is a climbing frame. The best climbing frame ever.
Today, my ten year old told her younger brother, "Dad is smart and Mum is dumb." Hearing that made me smile and laugh especially this Father's Day. I'm happy that I'm the dumb one, because it's confirmation that I'm doing my job correctly. It's not that I was delighted to be the bad guy out of her parents but I was delighted to see that my daughter is madly in love with her father. He can do no wrong. He can tell her off, sometimes he can lose his cool and even yell rather loudly when her noise or pre-teen attitude gets too much, but whatever he does do, she loves him unconditionally.
Her brothers see it too. Dad is always Mr. Fun. As you can see from our son who has autism, he loves to climb onto his Dad's shoulders. He can't tell his Daddy verbally how much he loves him - so he does so physically and sometimes as you can see above, Dad is strangled by his grip around his neck. But Dad's can take that and that makes them even more special. This photo on the surface doesn't look like the two of them are having fun, but for a kid with autism, this photo shows that he's madly in love with his Daddy. After all, Daddy's are big hairy bears. Sometimes you have to be quiet around them, particularly when they're sleeping in their cave - and other times you can play rough.
Happy Father's Day to all you Bears and Climbing frames out there! We do love you guys, even if we're always the 'dumb ones'!