A look at parenting through testosterone-tinted beer goggles.
The Cast:
BusyDad (Jim)
Working dad doing his darndest
Fury (Marcus)
9-year-old boy and future revolutionary
Lessi (Alessia)
My source for organic new baby smell
d Wife (Lisa)
BusyDad’s reality check
Krypto (Dog #1)
Witness to the insanity and chewer of things
BJ (Dog #2)
Yapping spreader of love and poops
If you just read these, I'm good:
If Jeopardy Were Written by Parents
(Toy) Breaking News
What Ever Happened to "Girls Have Cooties"??
Knocking Out My Demons
Homies on a Train
Iron Chef Fury
Such Sweet Sorrow
Darwin Would Be Proud
Crossing Over
Respeqt my Intelleqt, Qid!
Brand Ambassadorships,
past and present:
Sunday, February 3, 2008 Superbowl Sunday.
Eating buffalo wings. Hands and mouth covered in hot sauce and bleu cheese. Thirsty.
"Son, can you go in the fridge and get me a beer?"
Fury walks to fridge. Finds Newcastle. Finds bottle opener. Opens bottle.
Cold bottle of beer. Ready-to-drink.
Parenting. Finally paying off.
Reader Comments (47)
*lol*
That's quite a feat!
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[BusyDad] I think that's his best trick yet.
LMFAO!!!!!! Thank you for that.
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[BusyDad] Heh heh - I've been thanking Fury aalll day long. Multiple times.
that is most excellent training!
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[BusyDad] Practical skills indeed.
I have read entire rants from parent blogs professing what a deplorable practice this is, to have your kids get your beer for you, and I'm thinking, "I didn't tell them to sample it, just to grab it. Geez!"
Besides, I have photos of myself as a young lass back in the 70s taking a hit off a PBR. I turned out mostly normal.
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[BusyDad] Getting a beer for dad is deplorable? haha. Ok too funny. Some parents need to just drink a couple beers (fetched by their wonderful children) and chill.
ugh, at least you had something about the game that made you happy :( Sigh...and I was just getting over '85.
Fury is too cute.
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[BusyDad] I ate 4 small pizzas by myself on that day in 85.And I was in 6th grade.
Our post Superbowl table looks similar.
My Grant (4) LOVES to open our beer, too. Since we like a wide variety of beer and always have several different kinds on hand, he also LOVES to go get us one from the fridge. However, he can't read, so we have to tell him the Fat Tire - the one with the bicycle on the front. Or the Newcastle- there is a star on it. Often it doesn't work because he likes to come back with Corona. He knows Corona's take limes and after he opens them, he says, "Do you need any fruit for your beer?" I'd say he's turned out pretty good so far. I am just afraid he is going to end up making a living as a cabana boy.
KEEP BELIEVING
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[BusyDad] haha that is just too cool!! Learning beer by logos. For some reason they don't teach that in preschool.
It was a monumental day in MessyHouse the day our eldest (now 3 1/2) learned to fetch beers. We called Grampa, printed certificates, and now brag to our friends. It's the greatest party trick. We have the 2yo in training.
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[BusyDad] Wow - it is so cool to know that I'm not that whacked as a parent. Seems like a lot of us take pride in our kids' bartending abilities.
Love it!!!
Buffalo wings rock and there's nothing like Buffalo Wings and an ice cold beer, and even better... couch side service!!!
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[BusyDad] Makes all those diapers, the running around and the loss of sleep worth it. At least that's what I tell myself!
Those bottle opening skills will serve him well when he's pledging his frat. Great job Dad! This is a skill that no one will be able to take from him.
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[BusyDad] haha - yeah, he's set for that part of his life. Now I need to go in and backfill those other skills he'll need to get to that point. Oy... I need another beer.
See that's why I have four!! Nothing like an army of daughters to be at my beck and call and fetch me whatever I want. If only it was working...
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[BusyDad] If you figure out how to get that to work, you need to patent and sell that method!
You can train them? I didn't get that parenting memo. :)
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[BusyDad] I missed all the other ones. Selective listening. :)
My 20-month-olds are only to the point of wiping up spills (their own and ours). I'm sure that they'll be opening bottles just as soon as I share your post with my husband. He's been drooling about the prospect of child labor since we found out we were pregnant!
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[BusyDad] It is wonderful. My kid mows my lawn too. I may do a post on it one day. Don't worry, it's a manual push mower!
Damn you! Damn you! Damn you! Ok, not really. I just have a hankerin' for some wings now! First OhMommy and now you.. Damn all you chicken wing peeps. Not really.
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[BusyDad] Wings are the best thing the chicken ever invented for itself. They don't fly worth a damn, but they fry goooood.
Exactly!! I send my 13 year old up to get me stuff all the time! And when he says, why do I have to get it? I say...what do you think I had kids for???? Way to go for discovering their worth at such an early age.
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[BusyDad] hahaha! Perfect answer, Karen. Basically "That's the reason you exist! Duh."
I didn't need as much skill opening my dad's Old Milwaukee "work juice" back in the day.
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[BusyDad] Work juice? Classic. I would like to update that term. For me, it's "blog juice."
I have them getting the beer, but OPENING it too?!! I have work to do.
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[BusyDad] It's worth the first few spilled beers. That leverage thing with the bottle opener proved daunting at first, but now he pops em like a pro. All I have to do is shout "baaaarrtender!" and he happily fetches me a beer. Here's a tip - I have a talking bottle opener with a pic of some guy fishing on it. He loves making the thing talk. When it makes contact with the cap, the thing goes "Oh! Fish on! Oh... wait. No... BEEEER ON!" Gotta have the proper tools. Knowwhutimean?
Isn't that why we have them???? ;)
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[BusyDad] Yes, I do see the light now. I need to have a couple more because I've always wanted a short-order cook.
I'm waiting for the day... I know it's coming soon!
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[BusyDad] It will be a proud (and refreshing) moment.
Awesome! (and really life as a cabana boy might not be all bad)
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[BusyDad] It beats this cubicle, that's for sure.
Awww, you've trained him so well! Here I've been wasting all this time on teaching the 12 year old to do laundry!
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[BusyDad] I'm not there yet, but I will say Good Luck! I haven't even trained myself to do that yet. I bet Fury would do laundry if it involved shooting at piles of clothes with the garden hose. He'd do laundry all day long.
Mmmm.Newcastle...*drool*...great taste in beer! And delivered to your hand. Not bad at all. I need to work on that trick. ;)
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[BusyDad] Whatever effort you need to put into it, it'll pay you back in spades.
LOL
I'm sure my husband is looking forward to the Nate can do that.
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[BusyDad] ;) see above
the DAY Nate can do that... blah... sorry
I promise I'm sober...
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[BusyDad] I see you and Nate have been practicing. Sorry, I couldn't resist...
Ha! Just don't ask him for a glass of water unless you are sure he's tall enough to reach the sink!
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[BusyDad] He'll find a way. Like climb the dog ;)
but does this make up for the sandbox incident?
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[BusyDad] haha! um... maybe after 50 more of these I'll call it even.
You know you have them trained when they can do that.
Popped in to say you have been added to the Proud Papas of the Universe blogroll at the Cafe.
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[BusyDad] Thanks Mama Bear! You oughta get a pool table in that Proud Papas room. There's a lot of cool cats in there.
Sister used to get over eager "Do you want another beer Daddy?", he still had half a cold one in his hand. I figure she'll make one heck of a barmaid in college. Good money to be made off drunks! (I should know)
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[BusyDad] Yeah, that's an accurate assessment. I probably blew a good first house down payment on booze in college.
*Drool* Mmmmm, wings. Did you leave him a tip?
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[BusyDad] oops! bad dad. I did not. Great. Now he's gonna spit in my next one. I better go build him a Lego thing now.
Next comes having him appreciate a kick-ass game when he sees one! Glad you had a good SB Sunday.
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[BusyDad] It was an exciting game, but I'm from Boston originally. I happened also to choose this day to explain the rules of football to Fury. Even with a laser pointer, it was hard. All he knew was that with 10 seconds left, "his team" was going to lose. He took it pretty hard. He doesn't like to lose.
High return. Good investment. You are indeed a great dad. Happy chinese new year to you and your family. Are you celebrating it? I'll be missing for a week and hopefully when I return, I'll be able to join you guys in the leap of faith.
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[BusyDad] Thanks JO-N! Happy Chinese New Year to you too. I'll probably just eat lots of food and say Happy New Year. Not much different from my everyday (I say Happy New Year all the time).
Someday (when the Student becomes the Master)the grandkids can bring BOTH of you some brews for washing down those hot wings.BusyDad and Fury...The legend continues!
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[BusyDad] Oh, that will be a moment to savor! And when that faraway day comes, I will remember this comment.
Gotta train 'em right! :)
Hot wings...yum...making me hungry here. :)
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[BusyDad] The concept of leverage is hard for a 5 year old to understand - until he gets his hand on a bottle opener. This is the perfect kind of training. Dad gets his beer, and son gets his physics lesson.
LOL! Gotta love moments like that!
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[BusyDad] Life is GOOD!
Auwww... They grow up so fast,lol!!
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[BusyDad] Dexterity is a wonderful thing!
Love this! Clearly you have your parenting priorities straight.
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[BusyDad] Hey, I don't have a farm to tend to, so this is naturally the next most useful way a child can contribute to the household.
And I'm sure that if you sent him on a real beer run he would have known to buckle up the beer for safety... ('cause that bleu cheese really is pretty slippery!)
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[BusyDad] Oh he definitely knows. My eagle eye is always on him when he's torquing that bottle. Watch the spillage, son!
Well, we don't drink beer, but when I overhear E asking her dolls (at the tea party) what kind of wine they want, I figure we should start teaching her about the wine bottle opener. Someday, she'll be strong enough and can make herself useful.
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[BusyDad] Oh that one's kinda tricky. You have to get that on video once she masters it! And E sure knows how to throw a tea partay!
Love this.
My drinks are a bit more complicated...think Princess can handle mixing a margarita on her own...or a jack and coke??
BTW, I am ignoring that this post has anything to do with the Super Bowl. I'm still not over it :(
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[BusyDad] A Margarita on the rocks? I think so. Blended might be too messy for a child. And a Jack n Coke? That's a required course in my parental curriculum.
Hahaha! That's great!
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[BusyDad] Next up - Martinis!
Brilliant! Can't wait to start training mine.
Dude, those wings...you're killing me. Me? Starving.
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[BusyDad] Oh and you've got 2. A beer and another platter of wings. Lucky you!!
Excellent! I love it. I've got MINE trained to bring me a Diet Coke.
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[BusyDad] A very useful skill indeed. And when you get it, is it all shook up and ready to explode? Because that's the way Fury does it!
hmmm. Your post makes me think I need to introduce my son to the finer skills of mixing, since I am not (dare I admit it in this forum?) a beer drinker.
However, I fully admit that "Son, can you mix me up a Malibu and Pineapple Juice" just doesn't have the same 'ring' as your request, let alone it totally feeds into any stereotype one may wish to assign me! *lol*
Nice work on the good parenting...keep it up, as there are those of us behind you looking for continued guidance!
Rock on, BusyDad!
His2Dads
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[BusyDad] Haha cracking me up here, Mr. J. Well, I can tell you that I mix a mean Malibu Pineapple (d wife's go-to drink - so your stereotype comment made me laugh out loud). I can teach your boy a thing or two about the finer points of that drink.
Love it when all that training comes full circle! I can remember my dad doing the same thing, except I'd shake his up! I also remember him using me as a "boot remover"...I'd grab the heel of his boot, he'd put his other foot on my butt and push and off comes the second boot. I felt oh so useful. We were rednecks, indeed.
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[BusyDad] Haha! That scene just has Norman Rockwell written all over it.
he opened the bottle? damn you are a good teacher as well as parent!
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[BusyDad] I'm just more motivated to teach certain things ;)
I can't wait until my kid is old enough to get me some beer and wings. Hell, having her do the dishes wouldn't be a bad thing either.
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[BusyDad] Watch out - don't aim too high. I can't even do dishes well yet.
Fetching Daddy a beer deplorable?! I was trained to bring the beer and a salt shaker since Daddy likes salt in his beer, he didn't have me open to can until I was a bit older. I'm currently a graduate student studying microbiology so I don't think my early "education" hurt me in any way, lol. I wonder if he has my 4 year old niece trained yet...
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[BusyDad] :) Good to know that not only am I not doing any long-term damage, but this could lead him on a nice path toward higher education! Hey, it's teaching him the principles of leverage, right?
Oh I forgot to mention, over 20 years later and the training is still intact, I am more than willing to fetch a beer and salt shaker. I even got him a brew kit so he could make his own a couple Christmases ago, he is totally into it, my mother has probably not forgiven me for that one yet. For his birthday I am hoping to use my connections to get him a sample of super yeast to play with. I am so going to beat my sisters for being the "best daughter ever"!
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[BusyDad] haha Super Yeast! It's nice to have daughter on the inside. You have to let me know how that comes out!