• I am not a super anxious mama.  I do not wipe Cole down with antibacterial wipes after we leave the grocery store or any other public place.  I allow him to eat cheese puffs and watch television (although I do monitor what he watches like a hawk, a distracted hawk, but still, a hawk).  But there was a major hurdle I was not ready to cross, the public pool. Cole is very fishlike, he loves the water, really any body of water.  He loves lakes, water parks, and watering my garden becomes a struggle because he always turns the hose on himself, so he begged me to take him to the Mickey Mouse pool this summer.

I hesitantly agreed to a play date with our friend Kelly, and two of her boys, Noah and Will, and off we went.  Of course Cole fell madly in love with our happy little public pool, we were not contaminated with major  germs (which we would honestly be more like to get at the lake we love to frequent, true story) and he was not out of my line of sight ever, at all (as a bonus all of the lifeguards are my current or former students who also seemed to have their eyeballs on him. Mommy win!)

I was not surprised to see many mommies there with their kids, but this morning for family swim time, I was very shocked to see lots of dads, lots of different kinds of dads.  Their behavior was very comical, and I have seen similar behavior at those water parks and lakes (minus eColi) we like to frequent.

1.  Super sporty dad- often this dad will find fast friends with another dad in the pool. They must be throwing a football, or some other piece of sports equipment. This dad is harmless, but needs to remember in a very packed pool, I don’t think a lot of NFL scouts are gonna be there to see your sweet moves, just saying.
2. Super crazy competitive dad- This dad can be found near the high dive, where he is trying to coerce his tiny child into jumping off the high dive, with their floaties and goggles on, into the deep end of the water.  This dad makes me super nervous, because hello, if your tiny child has floaties on, they MIGHT not be ready for ten feet of water? I have to control the impulse to swim on over there next to that screaming dad and scream along with him “sweetie, it is OK!! Come jump off the side into four feet of water!! I promise you will still grow up to be super masculine and manly if you cannot do this at four years old!” (Eye roll)
3. Super grumpy dad- Observed on more than one occasion, you wonder why super grumpy dad did not just stay home? Or maybe he should just eat a snack.  I know that family time can be stressful, but screaming at your kiddos for trying to engage you in play in a public swimming pool might indicate that you need a deep breath (and a nap).
4. Super sunburned dad- My favorite kind of dad, because that was always my own daddy…I think there is a secret code among men that sunscreen takes away your testosterone.  No matter how gigantic you are, the sun will still burn you!! The very good thing about these daddies is they seem to be having a whole lot of big fun with their little ones, but that sunburn is gonna hurt you tomorrow when your kid is wanting to wrestle with you (I speak from experience, or rather I witness this on the daily with Cole and his own daddy).

Happy Father’s Day to all of the daddies out there!! I have a wonderful daddy myself, who is one of my biggest fans, and I know will drop everything if I need him at all.  Cole is lucky to also have a great daddy who loves to just be a dad (but never goes to public pools because I am convinced the skin on his very white legs and feet has never seen sunlight).  To all the good daddies out there, relax and enjoy this time with your littles, stop screaming at your kid to jump off the high dive and put some sunscreen on, already.