Strength...

This post includes a comment I posted on Alison's blog. She requested that it go on the List Of Constant Facts. It was meant to be a humorous story about a day at a pool and the wonderfully boundless energy of children.

The blog that Alison posted about the "Daddy In The Pool" was right. The Mom was the glue that held everything together for times like this. But, there is an important fact LIST item that goes along with the "Daddy In The Pool" concept.

It is:
The Dad is always the one on which children practice their strength, growth and agility. (When they are young, children use the Dad as the guideline for how strong they are getting)

This starts at say 2 or 3 when the Dad can be the pretend bear. Growling and inching toward the giggling child (Got to be careful here because 2 or 3 year olds have a thin line between reality and pretend).
Later it is seen when the child sits on the Dad's shoe and wants him to walk around or sits on his shoulders grabbing his head for support (Got to be careful going through doors... "too high Daddy, bend down". Another would be comparing bicep muscles. "Look how big my muscle is Daddy."
One of the most common practices to check their strength is arm wrestling. This starts when they are small and lean their entire body against the Dad's arm to see if they can make it go down. It then proceeds to "real" arm wrestling where the Dad acts like he is almost being beaten. His arm is close to touching down but just never quite makes it.
Of course, as the children get older, say 13-16, the arm wrestling decreases because they really do get strong and could give the Dad a real challenge. Maybe the Dad is the one that decreases this because he knows the child is getting older and he doesn't want to admit they could really beat him and that they are getting ready to go off on their own. Hmmm...

So, this is could be one of the reasons that the "Dad in the pool..." is so memorable. It is a continuation of the growth and strength curve.

So, here is the story:
You know, when I look back at those pool times, I really did have alot of fun. But I have some comments on the "Dad in the pool". Viewed from the eyes of the Dad.

The trip to the pool would go something like this:
Open to a sunny Saturday...
Kids: "cmonDadweregoingtothepool- cmoncmoncmon"
(spoken together and with great enthusiasm)
Dad: "Well, I..."
Kids: "Yeacmonletsgo - cmoncmoncmon"
Mom: "You know I think you should go with us. I see no reason why you shouldn't go with the family"
Kids: "YeaDad - Momsayssocmon"
Dad: "Well, I guess - OK"
Kids: "Yeathepool - Yhaaaaaaaaah"

After loading towels, toys, sun block, snacks (healthy), sandals and other sun related stuff into the minivan, off we go. All the while the kids are happily saying "Yhaaaaah".

Now, we arrive at the pool. The scene is an acre of water and a 1000 kids. We unload (kids continuing to say "Yhaaaah") and find our spot to place all our stuff, trowel sun block on the kids and let them go into the water.

The Dad is looking fonding at their fun and at a convenient lawn chair. When he starts to walk toward it, the kids are back with their cogent requests.
Kids: "Dad - water -swim - cmon - water - swim - cmon..."
Dad: "OK, just a minute and I am going to..."
Kids: "Nownownownownownownow"
Mom: "I see no reason why you shouldn't just go in the..."
Dad: "Uhh, OK"

But the funny thing was, when the Dad got in the water, he instantly turned into a shark. Gliding low in the water and searching for the unsuspecting kid.

The kid, once seeing the impending approach of the Daddy-shark, would shriek in delight/terror and start trying to run in 3-4' of water. The results were inevitable.

The Dad would quickly catch the kid and, after the shriek, would proceed to be climbed on and swim with 1 or more kids on his back. This would be followed by the "tossing the kid for distance" game.

After a while, the shark would then try to be cute and "attack" the Mom. This, of course, would not have the same affect. The Mom would stand and stare at the shark and once he got to her would start to hug on him. This would completely dissolve his shark-ego.

After several rounds of shark, swim and toss, the Dad would head for that lawn chair to rest. The kids could not understand this because they had 5x the energy of the Dad/shark.

After eating, more swimming and other various activities, we would gather all our water logged stuff and head for the minivan. Everyone would be tired, sun burned in a spot the sun blocked missed, looking out of chloriney eyes and very happy.

How does this interpretation fit with what you remember...

The Dad