There are so many things to tell you about PJ. I wish everyone could have the pleasure of experiencing the joy of a five year old.
There isn’t much about how it feels to raise a child that hasn’t already been said. The love I have for PJ lives up to every sappy cliche written on Fathers Day cards and movies where dads and sons plays catch, fish, ride bikes and play together. Those moments of happiness are recorded because they are real. The moments feel so good that you don’t want them to stop and you don’t ever want to forget. Being a parent is the single best thing I have ever been a part of.
PJ is trying to figure out the world. He asks hundreds of questions each day and is taking in everything around him with an acute focus. I don’t want to be a dad that is so fixed on protecting him that I forget to teach him about everything else. Robert Fulghum wrote, “I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge. That myth is more potent than history. That dreams are more powerful than facts. That hope always triumphs over experience. That laughter is the only cure for grief. And I believe that love is stronger than death.”
I have to warn PJ about the world and that there is hurt and sadness and things to be afraid of. But, I believe it is equally important to teach him about love, kindness, passion and to nurture his tendency towards compassion, experimentation, willingness to take risks and to have adventures. He has the rest of his life to be careful, keep quiet, not talk to strangers and to be worried about the future. Right now, while I’m holding his hand, he can jump farther and higher than he can alone, he can make friends with people in the street and he doesn’t have to worry about when snack time or nap time is. All he needs to think about are the things in front of him and taking those things in with all the intensity that comes with the bright eyes, eager heart and willing mind of a five year old.
“Think what a better world it would be if the whole world had cookies and milk about three o’clock every afternoon and then lay down with our blankies for a nap. Or if all governments had as a basic policy to always put things back where they found them and to clean up their own mess. And it is still true, no matter how old you are-when you go out into the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.” ― Robert Fulghum
