Is what my daughter called out to me today in the playground. As in she was on the swing and I was across the playground sitting on a bench, in between us some kids and a parent or two... Oh, and while we talk in English and she would generally ask me in English to swing her, this was done in Hebrew!
She was pretend playing to be her cousin E (who only speaks Hebrew, hence why Butterfly spoke to me in Hebrew..) as she has done many times before. She plays a lot at pretending to be either cousin E (an almost 5 yrs girl) or baby A (a 1 yrs boy), while my role is to be that child's mother. Today she was E and I was her father, a first! [though I was once or twice before a dad, but if my memory serves me right, a general dad, not a specific child's dad]
She does know that she does not have a daddy. Many times I don't know if I talk too much about it or too little or if I am doing right by what I do say. But we do talk about it, it is not a taboo [my sister, also an SMC (the baby's mother..) does not talk at all about it. She won't even have songs or stories that have a 'daddy' in them. I think it's important to talk even before they can fully understand and to not treat songs/stories as a big no-no]. So my daughter calling out loud 'daddy' was not trying to challenge me or her or the situation or anything like that. It might be her finding different ways to process not having a daddy and what it means: two kids [a brother and sister, but actually it was mainly the younger brother, a 5 yrs] later laughed, calling out to her - daddy come swing me [to which I would say: 1. it is funny when the child calls for a father and a mother comes! 2. obviously they do not know she doesn't have a dad], she was playing trying to catch the boy [she riding her bike, he running, lol] while calling to him - 'daddy and mummy'. So she was probably processing something :-) [BTW they were smiling/laughing all the time. I too found it funny when she called me daddy...]
P.S
I share my birthday with MN (today!!), which really is great :-) But as of this year, apparently I also share it with my daughter who also wants a birthday, lol! [her birthday is in three weeks time]
3 comments:
Happy Birthday! I think you are right to mention dads. I struggle to find the balance (which books is it okay for there to be a dad, and which will make our family seem less than).
Happy Birthday!!!
Elena calls my mom, clear as day, Daddy. She just has her sounds mixed up as she says "Gacor" for doctor but it makes us all laugh...which I think has encouraged her a little since she knows we think its funny.
Happy birthday! Hope it's a great one. SR talks and sings about daddies all the time, even though he knows there is no daddy. I don't hide that people have daddies. I make it no big deal but part of life. Some people have them and some don't. I don't want her feeling ashamed and if we don't talk about it she may feel shamed or embarrassed.
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