Gosh, Being a Dad can be Tough!

Tonight was one of those nights where a mixture of Thomas being WAY too tired AND wanting to push his luck at bedtime made it a not-so-fun night at home.

Sometimes, in Confession, I've wondered what the priest thinks, as he sometimes hears us confess the same sins - week after week after week. In fact, in the conversation in the confessional, I've even had a priest ask me about and directly challenge me on my repetition of something time and time again.

Tonight, I connected the dots between our Father in Heaven - acting through the person of the priest in the Sacrament of Confession - to some of the similarities to being a father to a young boy.

When we were starting his bath, Thomas did something that he knows he's not supposed to do. I was stern in reinforcing that he shouldn't do it, and wrapped up his bath quickly (much more quickly than he wanted to) and told him to get out, dry off, and get ready for bed.

He did it again.

So I took him to his room, started to get him ready for bed...

And he did it again.

Words escalate too quickly in this situations.

It's telling that the position I eventually found us in, calming down, with me reinforcing the behavior that I expect out of him, was the one from the famous painting of the prodigal son returning to his father.

I just held my son and comforted him. But at the same time, I was explaining why he was in trouble and what was expected of him in his behavior.

It was refreshing. And as I held his hand as he fell asleep, I could tell - I could feel - that we were ending our day at peace with one another. And I really felt that I had made a breakthrough... that he wouldn't do that thing again.

We'll see how it goes tomorrow... Tomorrow... That's what sometimes makes daddyhood hard.

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Related posts:

1. Dad… Do you Forgive Me?
2. Abraham & His Son