Dad Takes Risks

The other week, my husband and I met for lunch at Chick-fil-A with 2 other friends/co-workers, their wives, and their kids. All of our kids are in the 18-24month range.

After eating, the dads couldn't wait to take the kids into the play gym area. Of course, I see that as a place for breeding germs and all things NASTY, but my husband's quick reply was, "You've got hand sanitizer, right?" As if saying "yes" made it okay to touch the icky, nasty germs.

A kid needs to be a kid, right? So I sent our daughter on into the play area with my husband and the other dads/kids. I was worried about our daughter falling down the stairs, getting stuck somewhere and not being able to find her way out, or accidentally finding the hole for the slide only to topple down, staticky hair and all.

Well, all of these things (except her falling down the stairs) happened....and it was OKAY!! If she got stuck and couldn't figure her way out, my husband just pounded on the glass and told her to come a certain way. When she did find the slide, I happened to be standing at the bottom of it, unaware that it was getting ready to shoot her right out! She had that look of surprise on her face, but once she reached the bottom, she laughed and smiled.

In some ways, men can be more carefree than women. At least that's true for us. I plan things out and usually play it safe. I'm not a risk taker, and I'm okay with that. On the other side, sometimes men are not always smart about the risks that they take...but a little gym time in Chick-fil-A isn't that bad.

Are you more of the risk taker in your family, or do you play it safe? Has your parenting style changed this about you?