Daddy!

We ate out after church yesterday, at one of the Japanese places that have the hibachi choice.

Shortly after we were seated, a young family was placed next to us. Their baby boy (I later learned he was eleven months old). was seated between them, and they entertained him with bites of cucumber, and something they  had with him. As long as he was chewing something, he was pretty content. He smiled sweetly at Daughter and me, but mostly was occupied with his mama.

But when the chef rolled in, that baby sat straight up. He placed his little hands on the table, his eyes got wide, and he stared straight at the cook.

His daddy said, "He loves this, we've done it before."

That child never took his eyes off the cook. When he juggled his knife and spatula, when he made a smiley face on the grill, when he lit the fire and singed our eyebrows. Not once.

But when the fire was lit, the child reached with his hand and held his daddy's shirt sleeve. His daddy put his arm around the baby's shoulders and said, "Here I am, Buddy."

That's all the boy needed to keep his fascination going. As long as daddy was close by, he knew he was safe, and could enjoy the show.

I've seen that so many times: When a child wants comforting, feeding, cuddling, washing, whatever; he goes to mama. But when he wants protection of any kind, daddy is the only one that will do. When my nephew was about seven, he was spending the night at our house. As it grew dark and he realized Husband wasn't going to be there, he became fearful and opined we should  not stay there without "DAHVID" due to werewolves.

I saw it in my own child. I bet you've seen it in yours, if your child has a daddy.

It saddens me that more and more children are being raised without a daddy. Maybe he's deceased, maybe he ran away, maybe he's kept away for punishments sake, maybe mama didn't want a daddy and used a sperm donor or a friend. Maybe the kid has two mamas. Whatever. 

All I  know is; it breaks my heart.