Every day that Gus and I go to work we go through the horrible ordeal of leaving our son with our Au pair. My use of the word horrible is not meant to imply that our Au pair is a problem. Quite the opposite. She is great with Max and he seems to like her quite well as long as Gus and I aren't planning on going anywhere. As soon as we even think about exiting the room to get ready for work, however, Max melts down. We hold fast and tell him he is fine and we love him and we will see him at the end of the day, but you can't help feeling terrible when you can hear him as you get ready crying and declaring mournfully "Bye mommy...bye daddy."
Two days ago we were given a brief reprieve from our guilt. I had already escaped the scene of the crime, but I could overhear Gus attempting to extricate himself from the playroom while Heather tried to convince Max that he should focus on her.
Max: No Heather. Daddy play cars.
Gus: Max, daddy needs to go to work now. You are going to play with Heather for awhile.
Max: (wailing) NO! Daddy stay!
Gus: You are fine Max. Daddy will be back in a few hours.
Max sobs and flings himself into daddy's arms. I can hear Gus's heart breaking.
Heather: Max, would you like to go swimming today? I thought we would go to the swimming pool.
Long quiet pause. Max stands up and shoves Gus away. The waterworks are instantly turned off.
Max: Bye daddy.
And so we learn yet another valuable parenting lesson. No matter how important and central you think you are to your child's psychological well being, the swimming pool is more so.
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