Holy Crap! Being a dad is not for the faint of heart nor is it a part time endeavor, obviously. A five year old boy is relentless. At school his teachers sing his praises. He helps out, looks after classmates that might’ve been injured and is always the first one to share with others. Back home, if we’re lucky, we catch glimpses of that person. He whines, moans, complains and kicks off into a crying fit if things don’t go his way. Do I give in to shut him up? Not likely. Am I doing the right thing? I have no idea. It’s one of the many times I wish my own father was alive to ask him for his advice and if I was ever like what I’m seeing now. I’ve talked to other fathers to get a read on how they deal with such things and seeing as I’m in England I generally get nothing from them. I don’t know if it’s because I’m the outsider and always will be or if they’re guilty of some sort of corporeal punishment and to confess such to me would make them accountable and me complicit for not reporting them. That’s another thing, some parents still do a bit of the occasional paddling or the like but there’s no way I could ever even entertain the thought. Firstly because I thinks it’s wrong. I firmly believe no child deserves that and even though that’s how I was raised it doesn’t make it right but almost more importantly because if I get reported its headline stuff. “American Redneck Comic Beats Adopted Black English Child”. There’s no one man show in that just banishment, humility, guilt and a life time of me buying my son chips and ice cream as a way of saying I’m sorry. And thankfully he doesn’t know that’s what I’d probably do or he’d make something up just for the chips. Yes he can be that crafty. Clever little man…