The Consequences of a Large Pink Lemonade!

My brother-in-law and his girlfriend recently came for a visit. As tradition demands, we went out to dinner at a local seafood restaurant. My family tries to stay on a pretty tight budget, so when we go out to eat, we let the kids go crazy, and order anything they want off the kid’s menu! They especially love the fact they get to order any drink including soda (or pop depending on where you live). 

My youngest (#4 of 4), a boy , age 4, ordered a pink lemonade to go with his corndog dinner (remember we are at a seafood restaurant). His eyes were as wide as his smile when the waitress brought him out the super large tower-sized lemonade. As the waitress placed it in front of him, she realized maybe it should be in a smaller cup with a lid. But I replied, “No, it’s ok”. Thinking to myself, if he spills it you’re cleaning it up and secondly, did you see his face, I can’t smash this boy-driven-warrior-desire to conquer this monstrous lemonade one gulping guzzle at a time in hopes of a refill! So, the tower of lemonade remained in front of the boy, uncapped. 

Dinner went off without a hitch. Most of the food was consumed without complaining or too many leftovers, and no spillage! The rest of the evening was business as usually, fighting with #1-#3 to brush their teeth and get into bed. #4 was all snuggled in bed, under his blanket, eyelids being weighed down by the exhaustion of the day. Oh yeah, this might be a good time to mention, my wife and I are advocates of the family bed (toddlers only, except on Saturday mornings when all are welcome). Yep, you guessed it. About 2:00 a.m., I awoke in an Olympic-sized pool of a 4-year old’s pink lemonade induced pee! I guess the waitress got the last laugh on this one, or maybe it was my wife. Who amazingly didn’t stir at all during the commotion of my exasperated, “Oh crap!”. Any other time she would’ve been yanked from the throws of deep REM sleep because of the fluttering moth across the road under the street light! Suspicious? With #4 stripped down, washed off, underwear replaced, and a big fluffy cotton towel as a sleeping pad, I went back to sleep thinking about the consequences of my earlier lack of action.

Dads, our daily decisions always create consequences for our families. Some of those consequences are positive (college fund, going to work) and some negative (wasting $$, indifference). As the Dad, I try to help my kids understand the consequences of their decisions, as a good Dad should. 

But, let’s be honest, do we always think through the consequences of our actions? For me the answer is no. I may do some reflective self-evaluation, but it’s usually after I lose my cool or the rubble has settled. Only then do I realize I could have used positive words, a better tone, and not raised my voice or rolled my eyes. 
The consequences of some decisions really don’t amount to anything except maybe the frustration of changing a pee-soaked toddler in the middle of the night or a little loss of sleep. Other decisions may have life changing consequences for us, our wives, and our children. Take a look down the road. What are some negative consequences you see coming? Make the necessary changes. The good news is every day we can have a fresh start. A favorite scripture of mine is found in the Old Testament book of Lamentations chapter 3, verse 22-23,” Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassions (mercies) never fail. They are new every morning; Great is your {God’s} faithfulness.” Let’s raise our level of Dad-ness!

WELCOME to the Daddy Mentor Blog, here is why it was started....

Hey DADS! Thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to check out my new blog. As a dad, I know there are numerous demands on your time. So let me get right to the point of why I decided to create www.daddymentor.blogspot.com.

I told my best friend I was considering the idea of starting a blog to expand my twitter experience, but was a little concerned that the name “The Daddy Mentor” would come off prideful and arrogant. His response was, “What is your purpose? Is it to flaunt your knowledge, be arrogant, puff yourself up and build an audience to make millions off a book deal? IF so, then I’m not for it. But if it is to help and inspire dads to be better at what they do, then go for it.”

I must say it is definitely closer to the latter, but making a couple hundred thousand $$$ on a book deal wouldn’t be bad J; I do have 4 kids to educate.  Although I have 11+ years experience in the role of Dad, by no means do I consider myself an expert. In fact, as a dad who grew up without a dad, I consider myself poorly equipped for this monumental task. So, the purpose of The Daddy Mentor Blog is to help dads raise their level of “Dad-ness” by sharing some stories about me and my clan. Maybe the reflective part at the end of each blog will help us to be better at what we are doing.

I will endeavor to keep my submissions short and to the point. As busy, involved dads we have limited time and attention spans. Your comments, questions, and critiques are welcomed and encouraged. However, you can fore go the grammar comments; my wonderful wife will assist me there (as she reads this she is probably smiling at my excellent use of the semi-colon)!