Math has never been my thing. I can do simple arithmetic \u2014 two plus two stuff. Put a couple numbers together and see what comes of it. <\/p>\n
Like this one: 8 + 8. <\/p>\n
You know what that one is? It\u2019s 16. Eight plus 8 equals 16. <\/p>\n
SIXTEEN!<\/p>\n
I came to this conclusion over Christmas break when my daughter turned \u2014 GASP! \u2014 8. <\/p>\n
She\u2019s lived 8 years already. When she lives another 8 she will be \u2026 no, I can\u2019t say it again. It\u2019s too horrible. Too terrible. The big 1-6. The age. It\u2019s just over yonder. <\/p>\n
That\u2019s been my reality the last couple weeks. Thinking about how my wife and I now have a daughter halfway there. It\u2019s all psychological, of course. The damage caused when we get hung up on what we think numbers mean. <\/p>\n
I remember when I was 6 looking up to some 8-year-old girls in my neighborhood. I shouldn\u2019t say \u201clooking up.\u201d I should say \u201cidolizing\u201d or \u201cdreaming about\u201d or \u201cdrooling all over myself.\u201d They were \u201cbig kid\u201d girls. Older. Mature. Wise. And (as much as a 6-year-old knows something about this) super cute hotties. <\/p>\n
\u201cMan, I can\u2019t wait until I\u2019m 8,\u201d I remember thinking. I was probably staring out the window. Head propped on my wrists. Sighing. Cooing. (I cooed!) Little pink hearts floating above my head. <\/p>\n
Everything would be better when I was 8. Everything would seem different. I would get a mortgage. Start reading the newspaper over morning coffee. Start wearing suits and taking phone calls like this: \u201cYes, Jimmy. Certainly. I would be most interested in attending your birthday party. My secretary will add it to my social calendar \u2026 post-haste.\u201d <\/p>\n
Eight would be awesome! I would be OLD!<\/p>\n
How could my little girl be that? How could she be someone a 6-year-old might look up to? The big kid on the block. Even worse, the CUTE kid on the block.\t<\/p>\n
NO! NO! NO!<\/p>\n
Bring back 7. Bring back 6. Stop the rolling of time. Or at least the rolling toward teen-hood. <\/p>\n
But that\u2019s the danger as a parent, isn\u2019t it? Pushing them to grow up too fast. Or getting too hung up on how much they\u2019ve already grown up. Forgetting to appreciate the age they are because we can\u2019t get past the age they\u2019re gonna\u2019 be. <\/p>\n
I have to remind myself she\u2019s still that little girl. I have to keep sight of that. Not halfway to \u201cthe age.\u201d Not the big kid to some star-struck 6-year-old in the neighborhood. Or at least, better not be. I\u2019m going to talk to that cooing kid right now! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Math has never been my thing. I can do simple arithmetic \u2014 two plus two stuff. Put a couple numbers together and see what comes of it. Like this one: 8 + 8. You know what that one is? It\u2019s 16. Eight plus 8 equals 16. SIXTEEN! I came to this conclusion over Christmas break when my daughter turned \u2014 GASP! \u2014 8. She\u2019s lived 8 years already. When she lives another 8 she will be \u2026 no, I can\u2019t say it again. It\u2019s too horrible. Too terrible. The big 1-6. The age. It\u2019s just over yonder. That\u2019s been my reality the last couple weeks. Thinking about how my wife and I now have a daughter halfway there. It\u2019s all psychological, of course. The damage caused when we get hung up on what we think numbers mean. I remember when I was 6 looking up to some 8-year-old girls in my neighborhood. I shouldn\u2019t say \u201clooking up.\u201d I should say \u201cidolizing\u201d or \u201cdreaming about\u201d or \u201cdrooling all over myself.\u201d They were \u201cbig kid\u201d girls. Older. Mature. Wise. And (as much as a 6-year-old knows something about this) super cute hotties. \u201cMan, I can\u2019t wait until I\u2019m 8,\u201d I remember thinking. I was probably staring out the window. Head propped on my wrists. Sighing. Cooing. (I cooed!) Little pink hearts floating above my head. Everything would be better when I was 8. Everything would seem different. I would get a mortgage. Start reading the newspaper over morning coffee. Start wearing suits […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[543,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2014-nutshells","category-parenthoodandchildren"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1097"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1097\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1098,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1097\/revisions\/1098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}