Fatherhood Adventures – September 2, 2016

Fatherhood Adventures – September 2, 2016
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With school starting next week, Beckett’s summer reading has kicked into high gear, finally.

Although it looked doubtful a few weeks ago, due to some major procrastinating, it looks like he will surpass his minimum eight-book requirement.

It’s been a summer of biographies for Beckett after an initial dive into R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps series didn’t go so well. He was able to get through one of the books but with that came a newfound fear of being in his room by himself or walking into a room with no lights on. It was understandable as that “Slappy the dummy” character can be weirdly terrifying.

Once we got through that little hiccup, he seemed to enjoy a well-known biography/informational series published by Penguin Books. I say it that way because he’s a terribly reluctant reader at his age. He does very well with reading but without our constant thumb being applied he would not read on his own.

Nonetheless, thanks to that familiar thumb of pressure, he has read several from this Penguin Books series, including the stories of Jackie Robinson, Michael Jackson, Walt Disney, Martin Luther King, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. He has learned a lot along the way.

Although it surprised us, he seems to really enjoy his current book about The Great Depression. It’s titled, “What Was The Great Depression?” He’s become a walking factoid about that time period in our country’s history. When I walked into his room the other night, he was reading it to Pam in bed.

Because he will embrace any sort of distraction away from the task at hand, he decided to enlighten me on what this period of time meant for farmers and banks.

He recounted a story about how a farmer couldn’t make his loan payments to the bank and how that “mean old bank” took the farm away from that family. It was at that point he decided “I want all my money out of the bank.” Instead, he would take care of it. Before I could say anything, he ordered that to be done first thing in the morning.

Coming off the struggle that I just had getting Carson settled for bed, I just looked at Pam. That’s a beautiful thing about being married and mentally connected. She knew what I was thinking without anything needing to be said. She then went about straightening him out as I went downstairs.

If all our vehicles are home on the weekend, we can count on hearing our door bell ringing multiple times.

That’s because one or two (sometimes more) neighborhood kids are over to play with Beckett and Carson almost all the time. In fact, there’s oftentimes a kid or kids standing in our driveway before we even exit our vehicle.

It can sometimes be a bit too much for us because it’s just like adding another child to the bunch. That’s why we typically put a few rules on these friends coming over.

One, they can’t help themselves to whatever they want whenever they want. That came about from one friend sneaking some (five) snacks out of the house in his shorts the other week.

Secondly, unless it’s raining, they have to be outside. This will probably change come winter, but I have a problem when it’s nice out seeing kids piled on the couch with electronics or standing in front of video games.

Also, we find it wise to set a time table on the visits. Otherwise, and this has happened all too often, the kids stay at our house all day.

Finally, we set parameters on appropriate times to come over. For example, nobody is allowed to come to our house before 9 in the morning and after 7 at night. That came after several 8 a.m. doorbell rings and a couple 9 p.m. visits.

Beckett seems to think our rules are strict. To that, I say, “so be it.”

I have never had more snow balls in my life than this summer.

Without question my house will be going through some tough times whenever The Snowball Stand in Ocean Pines closes down for the season.

At least twice a week (usually more) we have hit this spot for the best snowballs around. It’s the finely shaved ice that makes them so great and dare I say addicting on some level.

My personal favorite flavor is egg custard and every now and again I will splurge by adding ice cream. Pam goes with egg custard as well but adds marshmallow. Beckett’s flavor choice is all over the place, but he always opts for sour spray and marshmallow no matter what he decides on. Carson likes birthday cake flavor the most but also is a fan of rainbow.

The other night I was there with the boys. As usual, they were making a mess of themselves and the pavement around them. As I wiped them down afterwards, I wondered aloud what we were going to do when the stand closes this fall.

They laughed thinking that I was fooling around. I didn’t have the heart to tell them it was no joke.

About The Author: Steven Green

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The writer has been with The Dispatch in various capacities since 1995, including serving as editor and publisher since 2004. His previous titles were managing editor, staff writer, sports editor, sales account manager and copy editor. Growing up in Salisbury before moving to Berlin, Green graduated from Worcester Preparatory School in 1993 and graduated from Loyola University Baltimore in 1997 with degrees in Communications (journalism concentration) and Political Science.