You Are a Great Man!

by Phil

Two weeks ago, I wrote about our disastrous first flight with our son last christmas. We've had two other flights since and it's been a breeze. In fact, while our son received compliments, I was also referred to as "great" by two different strangers.

Whenever we are out as a family and we need our son to sleep, I'm often the one that does the classic parent bounce.

Even if you aren't a parent, I'm sure you've seen it enough to know what I'm talking about. It's the move every parent pulls out in public at some point. You hold the kid close to your body, often with a hand gently guiding the baby's head down onto a shoulder, while bouncing and shooshing, in the hopes of putting the kid to sleep.

The Goal

By now, I'm pretty experienced with the bounce and he's been conditioned to accept it, so if he's tired I can get him to sleep pretty much anywhere. I'll even go out on a limb and claim to be pretty good at it. Although, I suspect my long torso may have something to do with the success rate. He can really settle in and relax, at which point, I may be just taking unearned credit for something I have no real control over.

So when it comes to getting him to sleep at airports, I usually take the lead. It's optimal if we can get him to sleep before we even board the plane so I'll start the process while we wait in the terminal.

We started this strategy the first time we flew back at Christmas. My son and I stepped over to a less-populated corner of the terminal and attempted the bounce. Things were going pretty well and he was really beginning to relax. I was feeling pretty proud of myself. Back then, he was only 5 months old and he would often let out a loud scream right before clonking out for good. We met a couple recently whose younger daughter currently does the same thing. They call it "the final protest," which I like a lot. It's a strange but hilarious behavior as infants let out a loud screech right before they’re totally asleep noggin head-butts you in the chest.

Well, in the airport terminal, right before we got onto the plane, my son lets out a really

loud final protest, only to be asleep on my chest a second later. My wife told me later that the old lady sitting next to her leaned over and said, "Oh, he doesn't like his father very much, does he?" Unfortunately, he woke up right before take off and we ended up with the adventure I wrote about two weeks ago.

On this most recent trip, instead of being told that my son doesn't like me, strangers lauded me, heaping compliments upon me as if I were some sort of fathering celebrity.

It was awesome.

On the departure flight, I was standing in the back of the plane doing the bounce. A gentleman from Nairobi was also standing at the back of the plane stretching his legs. After a few moments of silence, the man leans over and says, "You are a great man." Not one to turn down compliments from strangers, I thanked him and continued my effort to put my son to sleep. He pressed on. "You probably don't hear that enough but you are a great man."

I replied with, "Do mind going up and telling my wife that?"

Then, on the way home, I was bouncing our son in the terminal when a woman about 50 feet away loudly proclaimed, "You are a great dad!"

I smiled and thanked her. As she turned away, she kind of shook her head in a manner than expressed that she couldn't believe her eyes. She repeated in a quieter, almost wistful tone "A great dad."

I don't know why my fellow air travelers feel the need to call me "great." I also don't know why they feel the need to drive the point home by repeating it a second time. As far as I know, strangers have never called my wife great for doing her job as a mother. Why should I get extra kudos for doing my job as a father? It's kind of strange.

With that said though, being told that you are great never gets old. Reminding my wife that strangers have told me I'm great also never gets old. So if anyone else would like to step up and give me a compliment, I won't complain. Let's just remember that mothers do this job too and deserve their share of the credit.