Back in the Day

A couple of weeks ago the whole fam was in the car, and we were talking about the grumpy tendencies of someone who, shall we say, lives in a vacinity close enough to us that our family has had occasion to witness his grumpy tendencies (okay, he's a neighbor). I mentioned that my guess is he's not a grumpy old man, just a grumpy man. Steffi asked me what I meant. I said, "He's old school. He probably was very strict and would yell at his kids over anything at any time. Look at the way he talks to his family now; he doesn't tolerate anything. It's not his fault; back in the day that's the way dads were."

Steffi sounding perplexed, said, "But you don't scream and get mad at us and you're a dad." I was going to say something about getting mad sometimes, but instead took the compliment as a sign that my kids see me as a dad and not a big dude to be afraid of and avoid. I suppose back in the day this approach would make a grumpy man even grumpier, but considering the way people run the world today perhaps all that grumpy child rearing wasn't the best approach.