Let's take a well deserved time out!

Sometimes you just need a break from the continuous bombardment raining down on you. Hey, that's a pretty bleak statement but perhaps we all can identify with this sentiment on this Tuesday, May 18, 2010. Here's one way to help make an otherwise difficult day a little better. Last Friday I joined this form of traffic roulette where the loser gets rear ended on my way over to the daycare to fetch our four year old grandson, Alexander Benjamin. He asked if I was going to carry him to his house. I told him he was going to my house until his mother, a hairdresser, finished her last customer. He asked how many customers she had. I told him I did not know. He asked why I didn't ask, so I called her and said that Alex wanted to know how many customers before she would be picking him up. She said tell him only one but also tell him it includes a color and he will know that it will take a while longer. Let me just set the record straight. When I was four years old I have no idea what I may or may not have been talking about but I can't imagine myself as having been able to deal with and understand the complexities of hair colors and scheduling. I delivered the appropriate message and he seemed satisfied. I suppose TV, computers, games and the internet have done a number on our kids. He and I watched cartoons for a couple of hours and you do begin to notice how they have retooled them to appeal to both kids and parents. This means the little kids are getting a double portion and while they may not catch an adult reference here and there, it has to make a difference in their appreciation for the world and how it works.

Alex is a great distraction. When I am with him or any of our other grand kids they do take my mind off the stuff that usually has my attention. I saw in an obituary one day this statement: "She enjoyed doting on her grandchildren." The Princeton online dictionary states that doting means: Adoring, extravagantly or foolishly loving and indulgent, and then it gives the pay off example, "adoring grandparents." Talk about nailing it the first time! "Alex, what would you like for Poppy to fix for you to eat?" His response, "How about some spaghetti with butter on it? "Poppy: "Sure, no problem." Well, it's not as if it was no problem at all but it sure wasn't that big of a deal. Later when my wife came home she asked what I had fixed for Alex's supper. I told her spaghetti. She said: "Great because I'm hungry but where's the meat sauce?" Me: "I didn't fix meat sauce because he only wanted it with butter." Finally she said, "But I don't like it without meat sauce." Me: "How about a bowl of cereal?" And to think I used to accuse her of doting on the boys when they were growing up and in not knowing the meaning of 'tough love'. I've come full circle now with the grand kids and as the comic character Pogo once said: "I have met the enemy and it is I." Maybe this insatiable urge to indulge grand children operates on some sort of preset trigger and when it engages, the rest as they say, is all over but the shouting.

I know this preconditioned response is alive and well just by watching our Chris as he dotes on our little great grand, our bundle of Madelyn Joy. It's almost comical but the fact that brand new grandparents tend not to even need training wheels does point to this invisible preordained trigger that takes over and has a mind of its own. This doesn't mean that we who are card carrying members of this determined doter club never exercise discipline, it's just no longer the front burner item it was earlier in our sojourn here on the planet. Poppy's hit first and ask questions later has given way to making every visit a special time of fun and feasting. I can now sit and watch cartoons for hours without a problem but my boys remember when they had to jump to change the channel to the PBS News Hour the minute they heard the back door open. I haven't given up on the News Hour, I've only broadened by entertainment choices to include episodes of Ben Ten, Johnny Test, and Phineas and Ferb. By the way, that Phineas and Ferb are some hugely inventive young dudes and they do know how to build. What's that? Never heard of them? Listen, you need to get out more or ask Alexander Benjamin. He can clue you in on the really cool shows. Break is over and we now rejoin that continuous bombardment raining down scenario already in progress. Have a great day and don't forget to smile. It will do you good! Amen. ......More later.