The Overly Cautious Dad August 20, 2007

Yesterday the whole fam dam attended a birthday party for a friend (Grace’s friend turning one). Most of the kids there were around the one year mark and it was absolutely fascinating to watch the interaction of the children and the parents. I encountered one species for the first time—the overly cautious dad. Clearly OCD had never attended a playgroup before (or a playground). His eyes were as big as saucers as he said “this is chaos!!!” and commented about an extremely well-behaved 3 year old “wow, she has a LOT of energy, doesn’t she?” Now, this was the most well-behaved group of little peanuts I’d ever seen and the three year old is a delight. I just don’t think OCD has seen children interact as a group. I began to feel bad for OCD, so clearly clueless about what lies ahead. He cringed when other babies got near his, he spent the entire time shielding her and moving her from perceived danger, and he generally looked like he needed a stiff drink, or a Valium. I hope OCD learns to take it in stride, that his daughter will not “break” and that she will have a good time, if he just lets her.