zen.org Communal Weblog

Patrick (age 4-1/2) and I were on a guys-only stretch for a couple of days. This morning we played football—er, soccer—out on the front lawn, and finished building a wooden train we’d glued together yesterday. Then I said, “Ok, we need to go in and make some bread since we’ve run out.”

“No way, Dad, I don’t want to do any of that Martha Stuff.”

I convinced him to go upstairs and transfer some laundry into the dryer. He turned the knob to make the dryer start, then looked me square in the eye. “Ok, Dad, we can go down and do Martha Stuff. Let’s go.”

Next scene, he’s standing on a chair in front of the kitchen counter where the flour, sugar, and other elements were waiting.

Please tell me this is the positive side of television…