Dad-E and Mom-E to the Rescue

Dear Big Brother and Little Brother,

I know that I won’t always be able to protect you from some of the hurtful things in life.

And that’s okay: struggle, hardship, and adversity can be powerful teachers.

However, at your young age, sometimes it’s easier for Mom-E and Dad-E to just "take care" of some things without your knowledge.

We’ve had a couple of such things here recently.

Big Brother, you were so happy to get your first Transformer, Ratchet. If you thanked me and told me you loved it once, you did so about a million times. It was very sweet.

The other night we were out shopping at Target and Babies R Us. When we got home, I figured out that we didn’t get home with Ratchet. (Fortunately, you were tired and didn’t know the difference. Though I bet you would’ve noticed in the morning). The stores were closed, and I had no idea where we’d lost him.

To make matters worse, Ratchet had been placed in my pocket for safe-keeping. (Or NOT-SO-safe-keeping.)

I felt terrible. I knew you’d be devastated with the news that I’d lost him. So, after you went to bed that night, I went back out and bought a "replacement model" at the store. Fortunately, you did not detect a difference.

Little Brother, you recently got a new pair of Elmo flip-flops that are your favorite shoes. We had just returned home from shopping (don’t ask why, but it was our third trip to the grocery store that day). It was late, well past your bedtime, and we still had groceries to unload. I realized that we’d only got home with ONE flip-flop.

So, while Mom-E rocked you, I made a 4th trip to the store. Fortunately, we were lucky, and your shoe was lying in plain sight in the parking lot, right where we’d parked. You were asleep when I got home, blissfully ignorant to the fact that we temporarily lost one of your favorite flip-flops.

I hope you boys will understand our dilemma here. It’s (relatively) easy to go out and buy replacements for some things. However, to assume that this can be always be done lessens our responsibility to take care of our possessions. It’s also neither fair nor responsible on our part as parents for you to go through childhood without experiencing some “loss and hardship”, no matter how painful.

That said, Mom-E and I love you very much, and sometimes we elect to shelter you from minor hardships. Looking back, I hope you’ll feel that we handled it well.

I love you boys,
Busy-Dad-E