Dads in the Playplace

Have you ever observed a dad with his children at the McDonald's play-place?  The difference from that of a mom taking her kids to play is truly unbelievable.  Last week I was lucky enough to watch a couple of dads in action, and the experience was one to enjoy.

We were in Sierra Vista's McDonald's, so the customer base is primarily military and it shows.  On this particular day there was at least one father present who had the army mentality, and bless his heart he was being overrun by the enemy.  I know he was probably there to give the mom some much needed alone time to 1. relax, 2. run errands or 3. run away to Fiji, but it will probably be awhile before this dad braves the torture of the hamster like tunnels alone again.

This young father had two little girls, both under the age of 3 and both were delicate, tiny and sweet little things.  They were so fragile and beautiful that I wanted to cradle them in my arms and kiss their tiny faces.  But that was a mom's reaction, not a dad's.  Dad's don't coddle, they instruct, motivate and encourage.

After the girls finished their food, the older of them made it up to the top of the play-place only to get trapped in a corner that was too deep for her to crawl out of.  The well she fell into was conveniently located next to a Plexiglas window, thus ensuring that everyone seated below got a front and center ticket to watch her tear stained face plead with her daddy for assistance.  Her loving but distracted father told her she was fine and to just come down the slide, not knowing that she was trapped.  The more he told her she was fine the harder she cried, pressing her tiny distressed face into the window and asking for mommy.  I know she was thinking "Mommy would have been up here by now, and I really would be fine.  This yahoo is going to get me killed."  While dad yelled obscure instructions, another family's little girl went to the aid of the trapped princess but soon realized rescue was beyond her 4 year old capabilities and told the dad flat out that he needed to come up.  I had to admire the guy's go get 'em attitude when he realized that there was no getting out of it.  He asked one more time "I really need to come up?" and when confronted with two scared little faces nodding down at him, he took one last deep breath of fresh air and ascended into hell.  As soon as he disappeared from view, his younger daughter let out a frantic wail and tried to follow.  However, she was just over a year old and wasn't capable of negotiating the ladder, so she started up the steps on the opposite end of the gym, yelling for daddy all the while.  This poor dad was trying to yell encouragement to the trapped princess in the tower, as well as soothing platitudes to the abandoned sweetheart at the bottom.  Neither daughter was swallowing the lines he was feeding them and both grew ever more panicked and vocal.

When the overwhelmed dad lost sight of the smaller girl and couldn't get a reassuring response from her, my husband took pity on him and started yelling out directions that only another dad would understand.  "You've got a bogie coming in hot on your six" was answered hollowly with a "Copy that" from somewhere in the labyrinth of the plastic tunnels overhead.  Jordan turned to me and said that you know that the outing has reached it's conclusion when you need someone to vector you in on your kids, and sure enough- as soon as the weeping and sweaty little family was all safe on the ground, dad announced that it was time to go find mommy.  Both girls seemed relieved with the news, and I imagine the reunion with their mother was all the sweeter for their near death experience at McDonald's.  I'm sure dad was probably pretty relieved to have mom around again too.