Bad Dad???

When my daughter was first learning to sit up, she heard machine gun fire on TV and started giggling and flapping her arms up and down excitedly-she liked the sound. Several years later, she liked the explosions in Bond movies—edited for the Family Channel!!! When she and I were in the car together, I would pretend we were driving a “Bond” car—and the cigarette lighter was the missile launcher. She wasn’t in the front seat often, but when she was I would let her start the launch sequence by pushing in the lighter. When it popped out, the missiles launched (and dad provided sound effects)—always in the name of saving the world.

One September Sunday we were driving to our annual family reunion. We had to take so much junk, my daughter was in the front seat with me and my wife was following us in her car. I usually stay within 5 to 10 miles of the speed limit and my wife…well she drives faster. Anyway, my daughter and I were playing our game and she pushed the button. A few seconds later my wife pulled alongside, waved, and passed us. Then she got back in the right lane—right in front of us!!! My daughter and I looked at each other, I said “abort, abort”, but it was too late. The button popped out and the missiles launched. And then we both laughed hysterically. I’m not sure why, maybe it was just that our game had taken such a shockingly unexpected turn.

The first thing my little angel did when we got out of the car at the picnic was to shout, “Mommy, we blew up your car!!!” I had a LOT of explaining to do. LOL!

The positive side of this was that it gave me a great opportunity to talk with my daughter about being careful when we set things in motion. Whether you’re throwing something, saying something, or firing imaginary missiles, you can’t control what happens next—you can accidently hurt someone.

But I do worry that I shouldn’t have played that imaginary game with her. We weren’t blowing up people for driving like idiots (although, now that I think about it, I may try pushing in my lighter the next time it happens) and we were clearly just exercising our imaginations. Was it a bad thing to do??? She is a sweet, mild-mannered girl.


Next "Bad Dad" topic: How I got my son to start voluntarily making his bed.