Father's Day is this Sunday, and I would be remiss if I didn't take some time to discuss my role as a stay-at-home dad. It has been the biggest challenge and a life-changing experience.
My daughter, Molly, and I spend our days doing the normal things such as reading and learning her colors and numbers. We also spend a good deal of time playing. With Molly being an only child, I'm her primary playmate most of the time.
Some of those times, playing seems like I'm in a WWE Hardcore match, only no one told me there was one (you have to protect the soft body parts). I always have to keep my head on a swivel for fear of a rogue head-butt to the groin.
Then, there are the random things she beats me with daily: sticks, toy golf clubs, brooms, toys and anything else she could turn into a weapon. It never fails that at some point in the day, Molly wants to wrestle Daddy, and like any good wrestling villain, I always get my comeuppance in the end.
But there is a duality in our playing.
When we are not wrestling, we are playing with dolls or pretending to be characters from her favorite shows and movies. We also dress up (yes, I will rock a tiara, boa, bow or headband like a rock star) and have princess tea parties.
Neither my wife, Lacey, nor I have ever pushed the princess theme on Molly. It is something she has gravitated toward. Take it from a guy who has had a beat-down by a little girl wearing an Elsa dress. She also loves boas, tiaras and the "fancy dresses," as she calls them, that she wears to our tea parties. I have learned to pour and drink invisible tea—pinky up—while making what goes for toddler-polite conversation.
That duality of being a princess one moment and John Cena the next is not only fun but interesting to me, as well. She does some of the things you would expect, by social convention, for a little girl to do, but a wild wrestler lurks under the surface, waiting to spring forth.
Like any parent, I hope I'm raising her to be successful in this world. I fail at something everyday, like running out of patience or being quick to raise my voice. But that is also the great thing about being a stay-at-home dad or any parent: Tomorrow I can try harder to be a better one. There is always another SmackDown or tea party waiting for me the next day.
And who wouldn't want that life?
Follow Bryan Flynn at jfpsports.com, @jfpsports and at facebook.com/jfpsports.
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