One of the best parts of being a parent is the ability to relive childhood. Sometimes I think the things I do—the corn mazes, the snow angels, the apple picking—are more for my benefit than either of my kids’.
But we still dig it.
Last weekend we had a great snowfall in Southern Maine and “let’s let Sam play in the snow” quickly turned into “let’s build the biggest, best, most spectacular snowman this country has ever seen!!!”
With the enthusiasm of 10,000 toddlers, my husband and I rolled up more than 400 pounds of snow (a figure I know because my dorky husband later calculated it using Excel). We built ramps and “loading docks” in order to complete our 6’5” snowman. He was quite a site.
While my husband put the finishing touches on the “man,” our daughter just stared:
Once he was complete, she smiled and then played with the dog:
And while the whole thing may have been underwhelming for her, we did end up with a great holiday card out of the experience.
Sasha Brown-Worsham is a freelance writer whose monthly column runs online at The Family Groove. Her work has appeared in Pregnancy, Runner’s World, Self and many other publications. She lives in Boston with her husband, daughter, son (and a cat and dog).