I was reading an article in this month’s Details – apparently just by reading?said mag?I am?metrosexual – about being thatguy. You know the guy that does things that are a little odd, or out of character, or in some cases that are stereotypical, or a caricature of a real guy. For example, the guy who wears the beer hat with the spot for a can on either side and a tube straw thing that is attached?which provides?beer flow?from both can simultaneously?- that guy. What I determined is that I’m not so much that guy as I am that dad.?

The realization?came to me this past weekend while we were at soccer practice (yes we are thoseparents). As my wife and I?sat in?our folding canvas chairs on the sidelines along with a few other parents it dawned on me that I wanted my son to be a good soccer player. To beat a cliche to death I wanted him to bend it like Beckham. The problem is that he’s not all that interested in soccer. He’s heavy into technology, reading?and writing stories. Not so much sports.

But that doesn’t stop me from being that dad.

I sit on the sidelines and?shout “get it, get the ball” when none of the other parents are hardly paying attention. When he takes water breaks I try to give him strategies (as does the wife) and remind him to try his best and pay attention to the coach. I suppose he tries his best but he certainly doesn’t pay a speck of attention to the coach.?When he told the coach that he wanted to “go home” and that he needed to “go to sleep”?(which is his way of trying to get out of EVERYTHING he doesn’t want to do, even if it is 10:30 in the morning) I nearly disappeared. I was thoroughly embarrassed. At the time I wasn’t concerned about the fact that he’s five and that the soccer he plays?these days is?just to learn the fundamentals, I just wanted him to be good, to be showing?progression by the third class. That’s?when it hit me: I was that dad.

What’s more,?I understood that I was trying to live through him because I was never all that athletic. I was decent at track until I got to high school, which is when?I?started lifting weights, mediocre at football?and I was never very good at baseball, basketball, or soccer.?Now a large?part of me wants the boy to be good at one of those things. Then I remind myself that the boy is FIVE and he’ll be good at whatever he is supposed to be good at, and that it?will happen when the time is right.

Yeah, I’m also that dad who has a little self insight and knows when to keep it breezy?- thank heavens.?