The proud parent thread.

jeepinmatt said:
Hopefully you have some friends you can call that will help fill the void in your life. I know it's a bittersweet moment for you.
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When I was in college in a public speaking class I learned a toast salutation I use to this day that is apropo here that at least reportedly traces its lineage to Clemson Military College ands it WW sacrifices.
‘Damn few left’
 
Got hit with the feels this morning as a lot of kids go off to their first day of school. Even though mine wont start for another year, we had a pretty in depth convo about kindergarten this morning. I told our little girl that we were gong to have to leave a little early this morning because of the first day of school and there was probably going to be a lot of traffic. She started asking me question about her going to a new school next year and she got quiet and said that she was going to miss her friends and seeing all the people post their "First Day" pictures and it just got to me... When she was born, I thought about how far off we were from her going to Kindergarten and now, she's exactly one year away.
But she is learning so much in Pre-K and I am so proud of the person that she is becoming.
 
So a few weeks ago my little dude got to meet a real life hero.

This kid is obsessed with police and navy seals, so this was a dream come true for him to meet DJ Shipley Jr.

He and my son hit it off and became quick friends, we exchanged numbers and we get a a quick check in from time to time and received a large box of goodies from GBRS group.

He and his wife are awesome and humble as can be. Awesome people.
 

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My wife got taken aside after class for my middle kid…

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She got a high 5 and ‘fancy chocolate’ from me, and the ‘don’t start a fight, but sure as hell finish it’ speech. Millie is the sweetest, most rainbows and unicorns kid in the world, but don’t cross her hard lines…

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Our little girl had her first soccer game of the season Friday night and as shy as she was at first, she ended up scoring 7 goals! She was so proud of herself and I could just tell it gave her such a boost of confidence!

On the flip side, she has been talking about her "tangly" hair as of lately and how her two friends at school have long straight hair and she wants straight hair. So last night she asked me if we could straighten her hair to see how it looks and I told her No. but she didn't get upset and cry, she just sort of looked at me as if her heart was broken... and then I realized it, she somehow feels inferior having curly hair while the other two girls in her class don't. She didn't want this, she needed it. she needed to see how her hair would look straight and I think deep down, she wanted to show her friends that she can have straight hair too. So we straightened it a bit, and the look on her face when she saw herself in the mirror was like a kid on Christmas, almost like she saw something in herself that she had never seen before. She didn't talk much about it afterwards, but I would watch how she would play with it and look at it, and walk by a mirror ad just take a quick glance at herself. She wanted to hurry and go to bed so that when she woke up, it would still be straight. I told her on the way to school this morning that everyone that talks about you, the first things they talk about is your curly hair and how much they love it and want their hair to be like that. So that kinda hit me hard last night that she somehow feels less because of her hair and is already having self image issues at age 4...
 
Cherokeekid88 said:
On the flip side, she has been talking about her "tangly" hair as of lately and how her two friends at school have long straight hair and she wants straight hair. So last night she asked me if we could straighten her hair to see how it looks and I told her No. but she didn't get upset and cry, she just sort of looked at me as if her heart was broken... and then I realized it, she somehow feels inferior having curly hair while the other two girls in her class don't. She didn't want this, she needed it. she needed to see how her hair would look straight and I think deep down, she wanted to show her friends that she can have straight hair too. So we straightened it a bit, and the look on her face when she saw herself in the mirror was like a kid on Christmas, almost like she saw something in herself that she had never seen before. She didn't talk much about it afterwards, but I would watch how she would play with it and look at it, and walk by a mirror ad just take a quick glance at herself. She wanted to hurry and go to bed so that when she woke up, it would still be straight. I told her on the way to school this morning that everyone that talks about you, the first things they talk about is your curly hair and how much they love it and want their hair to be like that. So that kinda hit me hard last night that she somehow feels less because of her hair and is already having self image issues at age 4...
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Just another view from a dad of a 'tween' girl

You may be really overthinking this. Often its not that she feels somehow inferior or that she's not as good as the others, but just that either (a) she just wants to be like her friends or (b) wants to try something new and see what its like. Both of these are pretty normal and pretty common. It doesn't means there's anything wrong with her self image issues.

I couldn't tell you how many different hair styles my daughter has been through. Sometimes bc she has a friend that she thought it looked good on, and she wanted to try it, sometimes bc she just wanted a change. Don't sweat it, she'll eventually find her own stride and style.
 
Cherokeekid88 said:
her "tangly" hair as of lately and how her two friends at school have long straight hair and she wants straight hair.
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There's not a woman I know that has curly hair that hasn't at some point wanted straight hair, or has straight hair and wants curly. I actually thought it was a fun little game every woman played "don't you think I'd look better with XXXX hair", and then the fight ensues. You can't answer that question properly. If you say yes...clearly you think she's ugly and you don't love her...if you say 'no', you're being an unsupportive asshole.
 
Yeah its a daily in my house.
My wife has bone straight hair and even at 40 something whines because it isnt curly.
My daughter has the curliest full bodied hair you could imagine and whines constantly because it isnt straight.
THat part never changes.

I think the lesson that needs to be introduced is that you are unique and perfect and God made you the way you are for a reason,

Chasing the straight hair at 4 isnt a far cry from a boob job at 18 and a nose job at 23.
 
Ron said:
Yeah its a daily in my house.
My wife has bone straight hair and even at 40 something whines because it isnt curly.
My daughter has the curliest full bodied hair you could imagine and whines constantly because it isnt straight.
THat part never changes.

I think the lesson that needs to be introduced is that you are unique and perfect and God made you the way you are for a reason,

Chasing the straight hair at 4 isnt a far cry from a boob job at 18 and a nose job at 23.
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Yeah, I guess this is really the first time she has ever displayed something like this and it just feels different then any other time she has wanted something. Not a whiny cry, but a sincere want/need sort of cry and of course with my anxiety and I think just being a Dad, I automatically think something is wrong or someone has said something to her to hurt her feelings. We read a book every night before bed, so I ordered her a book off amazon about girls with curly hair, so hopefully that will help some...

I constantly tell her how many people talk about how beautiful her hair is and how much momma and I love her hair.

I'm sure its just her really noticing differences in peoples hair for the first time and having some sort of connection with how it makes her feel.
 
Teaching the next generation right. He didn't hunt with me this morning, but insisted he help process it. Really, he just sat and watched. But now he wants a deer burger.

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Jonas just got into his top choice college, York of PA.
Not the "fanciest" but the ME program is exactly what he wants and needs
(And the biggest smile we've seen in awhile)
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Last night watching Americas funniest home videos, one of the vids was of 2 dude shotgunning beers and something funny happened. My oldest piped up that he remembered one time when daddy and Mr Matt (my neighbor) poked holes in grown up drinks and drank them out of the holes and that they made a mess with them under the carport.... My wife was not amused by that memory...
 
Spence said:
Congratulations!

Printing out an email acceptance just doesn't quite have the same ring to it as tearing into that envelope and hoping for the best, does it?
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Absolutely agree. Plus it removes that whole debate about big envelope versus small envelope thing.
But this time as it turns out we are down at my parents place on lake Gaston, and won't be receiving any mail until we get back home next week. So it's actually a good thing that we live in the digital age.

BRUISER said:
that is a lot of switches on the wall
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It is! Crazy thing is that's all original from the builder in 2003.
And if you look closely every switch has a label on it!

Mom and Dad originally bought this house as an investment to do weekly rentals for the lake folks, and then later moved into a full time. Dad labeled every switch in the house so that guests would know what was what.... Especially important when you have madness like that.
 
UTfball68 said:
Not really a proud moment, but appreciative the 5 year old can acknowledge the memories…

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Some of the most frustrating times of my life (in the moment) made for the most vivid memories for the kids. What I was so aggravated at in the moment always proved to be something we all laughed about hysterically later.
You're such a great dad Weezy!
 
Picked my little boy up from after school care on Friday. He knows he has to hold my hand in parking lots. We’re walking to my truck and he keeps trying to pull away. Naturally I squeeze him tighter and pull him back closer. He does this a couple of times and then finally yells at the top of his lungs, “I NEED TO ITCH MY BUTT”. So I let his hand go and he proceeded to dig in his butt crack in front of everybody. I love kids. They have no shame.
 
Bought another "family" dirtbike. Its not specifically for either kid, and its not for birthday or Christmas or anything. But its for my oldest to learn on, my youngest to grow into in the next year, and my wife and I to look goofy on. Got it Wednesday night, and I was shocked that my oldest would even sit on it, as he is very slow and cautious and hesitant about new/different things. He is autistic and I figured it would take a few weeks or months before he actually rode it. The first night he sat on it, and would stand beside it and rev the throttle, but that was about it. The next night, I was picking the boys up from my parents house, and telling the about the dirtbike and said little brother "will probably ride it in 6 months or a year when he's a bit taller, and big brother will ride it when he's ready, who knows when that will be." He piped up and said "I'm ready now." So I decided to call his bluff. We went straight home, and after about 30 seconds of hesitation and prep, he took off up the driveway and across the yard. Made a circle, came back, circled around back to the yard, and went FULL THROTTLE! :laughing: Then came back and said "I went full throttle!" Hahahaha!

I made sure to leave work early on Friday and try to capture some daylight for riding time. He rode around a bit, and then I got on the CRF230 and he followed me for a half hour. :D


On Saturday he wanted to ride again, so we rode about 2hrs, progressively doing more/faster/harder, though still sticking to wide, flat roads and first gear even working in some uphill and downhill roads with some loose small rocks.

Sunday of course he wanted to ride some more. But I was down at the shop working so he came down there, and I taught him some things.


Then we rode for another hour or so, even took the "big trail" down to the creek 👍

Later in the afternoon, he wanted to go over to my parents house and ride in their pasture. That is where I introduced him to...
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SECOND GEAR!


And boy did he love it! For now, the rule is that he can only use 2nd gear in the middle of my parents pasture and on the straight part of my driveway, but as he acclimates we will definitely let him progress. The dang thing will do 26mph in 2nd gear and 33mph in 3rd with me on it. I imagine it will hit 35+ with someone 4x lighter on it :laughing:

Myself, my dad, and my son all rode around Sunday afternoon until our hands nearly froze off. First time we've had a 3 generation ride, and it was really great.
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I got to watch him do his first wheelie, lofted the front about 6" off the ground. :wheel:

We also did a bit of "racing" in their pasture. Check out this rooster tail when he shifts into second:rockon::



Its hard to believe he's only been riding for 3 days. He looks and rides so natural on it. He's had a couple little spills on wet leaves, roots, gravel, etc, but really has a great grasp on bike control, starting, stopping, and just generally riding a bike well, and I'm so proud of him. At some point yesterday, he came up to me and said "Dad I really like riding dirtbikes." 🥰
 
Parenting is hard. Not the whining, or being a picky eater, or having to get up in the middle of the night to see what it is they are crying about, for me, it's the "Am I spending enough quality time with her?, but also letting her become self sufficient and independent?" "Why do I get so irritated so quickly?" and now that she will be starting kindergarten in August, I am constantly worried, if she is ready..."have I done my job as a parent to prepare her for it?" She is such an amazing kid, and I know every parent is biased, but she really has a sweet heart and just wants people to be happy. It's true that nothing can really prepare you for being a parent, but I think your own upbringing plays a big part of that, but I see my Dad in myself a lot of the time and I get it.
 
Cherokeekid88 said:
Parenting is hard. Not the whining, or being a picky eater, or having to get up in the middle of the night to see what it is they are crying about, for me, it's the "Am I spending enough quality time with her?, but also letting her become self sufficient and independent?" "Why do I get so irritated so quickly?" and now that she will be starting kindergarten in August, I am constantly worried, if she is ready..."have I done my job as a parent to prepare her for it?" She is such an amazing kid, and I know every parent is biased, but she really has a sweet heart and just wants people to be happy. It's true that nothing can really prepare you for being a parent, but I think your own upbringing plays a big part of that, but I see my Dad in myself a lot of the time and I get it.
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yup.
 
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