Good Parent, Bad Parent

My kids LOVE their Poppa. Everytime he walks in the door they all run to him yelling "Poppa! Poppa! (if it's Beya) or Dad! (if it's Novan). They are just so excited when he comes to hang out with them. They get to do things with Poppa that they would never get to do with Mom like climb all over him. Novan, I kid you not, likes to stand on Dad's head while Dad holds his hands. He's a regular gymnast. I need to get a picture of that one day...

They all love to wrestle, especially Novan who has quite a physical streak in him which I am sure he gets from his Dad. Beya loves to have Dad around I think because she can get away with more. If Mom says no to something then she immediately goes to Dad if he's around.

Just this past week when Dad was away on business the 3 kids were in the tub and Beya gives each person a kiss (normal behavior for Beya by the way). I said to her "Thank you Beya for giving everyone a kiss! Who is missing?" Beya says, "Poppa!" and then Novan says "Dad needs to come back to the house." I said "how will Poppa find his way home?" and they both yell "THE MAP!" (which is pretty funny if you are familiar with Dora the Explorer). Novan then proceeded to tell me the various landmarks Poppa might encounter on his way home such as my favorite, "Then he needs to go over the water with a boat!" I love that my kids recognize Brad as part of our family unit even if he isn't around so much.

Dad just has more tolerance for just about any type of misbehavior. Dad is just more fun and he doesn't ever really lay the smack down like Mom. Often all Mom has to do is give "the look" and kids get back in line. Dad is often not taken very seriously because kids are just funny, even when they are misbehaving and I think he can't help himself for laughing at them. An example is getting PJs on everyone before bed. Novan laughs and rolls on the floor the whole time when Dad is doing it. Sometimes Dad needs an extra hand to hold down the offending child while an extremity is directed to the right garment hole. Mom would never put up with that but Dad does because he's more fun. 

Dad could certainly be more of an authoritarian but he just doesn't get to spend as much time with them so when he does he wants it to be pleasant for them so that they will always look forward to his time. I like it this way as well. I want my kids to know that Dad works hard and when Dad is around it's time to have fun so we can all look forward to the times when we are all together.