The Number
by Gary Drevitch
My friends who work on Wall Street sometimes talk about their “number.” You know the one—the amount of money they believe they need to have stashed away to be able to walk away from their high-finance jobs. As a parent of three rapidly growing small children, I have my own “number”—the age at which all of them will have outgrown snuggling with me. Of course, if recent magazine articles and message-board complaints are to be believed, a lot of mothers—to say nothing of fathers—have been getting strange looks from passersby when they’re caught snuggling with their nearly-grown children. But I admire their public displays of affection. In fact, I’ve been studying them.
Like an amateur anthropologist, I’ve begun closely observing friends and relatives with children older than mine, to see how old kids can get and still be comfortable sitting on their parents’ laps or looking to them for a hug. I was especially encouraged to see one independent-minded 12-year-old niece recently perched on her mother’s lap as her mom stroked her hair. I quickly did the math: If my youngest, now seven months old, is similarly willing to snuggle until he’s 12, then I’ll be 50. So, right now, until I see some 14-year-olds asking for “two minutes” at bedtime, that’s my number.
“Two minutes” is my longtime bedtime ritual with my six-year-old son and four-year-old daughter. As they go to bed, I lie down with each of them in succession for two minutes, followed by a carefully choreographed series of pick-ups, tosses kisses, and hugs. What’s in it for me? Just moments like this: As I lay next to my son the other night, I gave him some gentle pats on the leg as he grew sleepy. And as I did, he turned to me and said, "I love you too, Daddy."
Only twelve more years of this to go? The number looms large.
Gary Drevitch is a former assigning editor at Teen People, Parade Publications, and Scholastic. He’s also a dad with three young kids. A veteran producer of educational content for McGraw-Hill, Scholastic Inc., and Time Inc., he’s written several non-fiction books for children.
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Posted by Anonymous on Aug 28, 2007 2:27 pm
Posted by red soxy on Sep 13, 2007 7:10 pm
I have three sons (Twins 4, Oldest 8). I am coming to the end of my year long tour in Iraq. This is my second tour. The first occured when my twins just turned one. I have been away for half their lives. I sorely miss the routine, however at the time how monotonous it had become. The bath after dinner followed by getting them dressed and each one picking out a book for me to read. After the books I would sing "Shenandoah" for Henry followed by "The Army Song" for Samuel. I want to return to our routine. I miss them so much.
Posted by LTC Jon Lukens on Sep 28, 2007 3:25 pm
Posted by Gary Drevitch on Oct 1, 2007 4:18 pm