Poolside Observations: A Dad and his Kids

I'm sitting out by the pool of my apartment (thank God 4 my Treo), and I saw a father playing with his sons. I thought this was an observation worth sharing, so here goes.

There's a black man playing in the pool with his 3 sons. Now it is sad that this should even be including in my observations, but let's be really. That's a rare occurence in our communities. Growing up in high school, I recall being one of the few whose parents were still together. And one commonality between my peers whose parents were or weren't together was that none spent lots of quality time with their fathers. Whether they were working all the time, locked up, out of town, or just absent, the quality time just wasn't there. So to see this black father happily spending quality time with his sons impressed me.

What was even further impressive about it was the way he was with his kids. He wasn't overbearing. He wasn't nonchalant. He wasn't uncaring or unconcerned. He was the perfect combination of a father: fun and playful, yet stern. He taught them and played games with them while disciplining them and making sure they respected him and each other. And he was not underprotective as it is stereotyped most dads are nor macho. He was very watchful of his sons, making sure the youngest didn't venture too far in the deep side and that they didn't hurt one another with their horseplay, and he allowed them to be kids and have feelings. He made me sit back and examine my parenting skills. I do well, but there are things I can...I will do better. I must say he blessed my soul. I wish all black boys had fathers like him.