Daddy Do My Socks Match?

Movies today can be extremely graphic, filled with harsh language, sexual situations and of course, every man’s favorite, violence. Things exploding seem to bring joy to men in the same way a shoe sale affects women. Our hearts start pounding, the adrenaline builds and we watch with nervous anticipation to see if the hero of the story, yet again, can survive the horrendous scenarios that they are thrust into.

From these movies, we can glean all kinds of wisdom. From, “Go on without me,” to, “It’s just a flesh wound,” movie dialogue has become a part of our culture. We will quote our favorite lines and re-enact whole scenes that have in some way touched our lives. The movies and television shows we watch shape and mold our character in ways that we cannot begin to fathom. Many of us will come to a point in our lives where we may not remember our children, but we will remember a saying or situation our favorite character said or encountered. For some, it will be, “Play it again, Sam.” Others will hold on to, “May the force be with you.” However, I believe the most profound and true-to-life, applicable to child-rearing line ever uttered on stage or screen would have to be, “It’s quiet, too quiet.”

I have learned through these years at home with my child, that if I can’t hear her, chances are something is wrong. It may be big, it may be small, but something is going to need fixing or cleaning before the day is done. All quiet times are not bad. There will be rare times, extremely rare between the ages of 1.5 and 3, where you will fear the worst, only to find that your child is being the perfect angel you knew they were from day one. However, don’t let these times fool you. As a rule, if they are quiet, drop whatever you doing (unless you’re holding your other child) and run to whatever room in the house he or she is in. The sooner you find out what they are up to, the better. Why? One reason, less mess to clean up. As they get older and more mobile, the frequency of minor catastrophic events will increase, you don’t want the child hurting themselves. Mostly though, less mess to clean up.