Found family story

[janicemf]

I’m close to forty and I have a friend who I’ve sort of adopted as my dad (he’s in his mid-60’s). I live far from my family, and don’t have much contact with them anyway, so it’s nice to have that father figure in my life. He’s the guy who I go to when I am dealing with life/business/parenting stuff.

My 4 yo daughter calls my friend Papa J. We went to Papa J’s office the other day and I took her with me. Of course she gave him a big hug and he took her out to see the “shop dogs” and pet them.

When we left, we were driving and my daughter asked, “Is Papa J your daddy?”

I sort of chuckled and said, “No, babe. Papa J isn’t my daddy. My daddy lives far away.”

And then she said something that made me tear up: “Oh. When you need a daddy, you go see Papa J?”

Kids are so perceptive, man. They get it.

 

[teacup64]

@janicemf No question they get it and I have found the more upfront I am with my 4 year old, the more the cogs keep turning and she wants to just absorb everything.

As you know the evening brain fog can take their little brains in weird directions. I have gotten to where I love the random mental dirt roads we will go down. From putting the puzzles pieces together on Mommy and Daddy’s real names; family tree (Grandma is my mommy etc), watching the stars, talking about gravity and the planets, to our random assortment of animals in the neighborhood. “Look daddy, it’s a boy cardinal. They are the red ones. Girls are the brown ones!”. It’s incredible. Especially, like you said, out in the world when very pointed questions emerge.