Parenting Tip #2: The Dad Effect

As long as I'm on a roll, and because clearly my parenting advice is going to absolutely come to the rescue of some poor uneducated souls out there in DIRE need of my advice. Clearly.

So here it is, tip #2 (which just in case you missed the first installment follows tip #1: Bribe and bribe often): When the "dad effect" is in play, just let it happen and enjoy from the sidelines. This also applies to the "papa effect", "grandpa effect", "uncle effect", and probably more often than not the "grandma's acting crazy effect". Today we returned to the country after a weekend in the city and lest you wonder what the first thing we did when we pulled into the driveway I'll just go ahead and put it out there. Dad and son stripped to their skivvies and ran, jumped, and splashed their way through a weekend's worth of rain puddles and mud. It's not like I could've stepped in and used my most compassionate mommy voice to scream "Wait! No! What on God's green Earth are you doing!??" No, it was much better to just take a seat and turn the camera on and let the scene play itself out. Happy son, happy daddy. And when they were done they hosed each other off took a bath and presented their fresh-as-daisies selves to mommy just in time to fit in a game of Brown Bear Brown Bear before bedtime.

So there it is, Tip#2. If you should find yourself in a similar position my personal advice is to run with it, enjoy it, the definitely absolutely and without question...POST PUBLIC PICS OF IT so that daddy gets just enough slack from the readers to be kept in check lest he think he can pull off anything even crazier in the future. It's good to be queen.