Have you guys seen the Wave at the Bus dad?When this father realized that the school bus of his 15 year old was now going to run down their street that year, he decided to go out on the front stoop and wave at the bus. And then he decided to do it in a costume. Every day for the whole school year. [Thanks to Peej, who had this story on her facebook.]
His wife's been blogging it and once her blog got press and grew popular they took some flak for (a) naming their son Rain; (b) embarrassing him; (c) seeming to own a lot of guns and camo clothes; (d) wearing politically incorrect costumes; (e) not having a job and living on welfare.
They've clarified that (a) it's his middle name and he loves it; (b) at this point in the bus run it's only Rain and a few friends on the bus, they wave back, and their son has a great sense of humor; (c) the father was in the paintball business for over 20 years; (d) yes they're not PC, it's true; (e) he's a stay at home father (there's three kids), not on welfare.
As PC as I actually am, even I wouldn't criticize him for that. For heaven's sake, he's a joe-average dude looking for over a hundred costume ideas to make his son laugh, to connect with him during the school year. That's not something I would put under the microscope. Unless, perhaps, I later found out that he and his wife were super courting all the press and trying to get *discovered.* Then it falls under Entertainment and I might be a little tougher.
But re point (e) -- WTF!! A man stays home with the kids and people automatically assume he's a bum? How sexist is that? Holy mackinole.
As for the whole embarrassment thing, I agree with this commenter (with one caveat):
Embarrassing your child in a fun and lighthearted way is creative parenting at its best! It tells your kid "No matter how much you hate me/are embarrassed by me/wish I'd simply go away during your teenage years, I will NEVER stop being your dad (or mom!) and will be here smiling and waving no matter what.The first time my friend Swiss Girl came to my house in high school, my dad answered the door in the mask of a creepy old man. She laughed so hard she still mentions it 26 years later. My friends liked my dad, and at every church he goes to, he somehow always ends up with teenaged buddies.
My caveat: KNOW YOUR CHILD / CHILD'S FRIENDS. I wouldn't do this to a child who's shy, has trouble making friends, feels socially awkward, is being bullied, etc. Or you could do it with a child who's shy but has a nice group of buddies, if that's who's going to be on the bus (or at the sleepover, or otherwise the object of your little lighthearted prank.) That seems to have been the case here--these were parents who knew their son would be embarrassed, but not humiliated, not mortified. It would turn into a fun joke with his buddies, not a source of torment.
And now, some of the pictures. [He only has one leg by the way.] Or pay a visit to the blog!
4 comments:
I've said this on some blog before but I used to love to embarrass my kids when they were in junior high.
They would spend 2 hours getting ready for school, changing clothes, gagging me with hair spray, perfect makeup, etc. So when I would drop them off in front of their friends I would make sure some obnoxious music was playing and I'd be singing along at the top of my lungs.
Their friends would laugh. They would roll their eyes. My point was that they were taking things way too seriously.
And, of course, I had fun doing it.
See I was one of the cripplingly shy kids who would have melted into the bus seat. I distinctly recall being embarrassed the year my mom got a red car b/c all the other moms drove minivans.
But good for Rain and his pop. I agree with u on the chauvenistic and pejorative views that evidently popped up over the sahd situation. Jeez--he's parenting that is a job!
My brother was shyer than me, whereas I had a set of girlfriends who were geeky and silly like me. So ya... know your audience.
Poor Lora and the red car lol... my step-mother drove a gold Firebird sports car, and my dad had this weird truck thing he called The Green Machine. Good thing I had absolutely no awareness of what other parents were driving.
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