A FATHER’S DAY TRIBUTE - PRECIOUS TIME WITH DADDY
by Janis Stein

My husband and I grew up learning how to “make do;” when we ourselves became parents, it was only natural to instill and to share this value with our daughters. When we shopped with our toddlers in tow, we always traveled through the toy aisle, intrigued with the latest and greatest. Gifts, though, were reserved for birthdays and Christmas, so if the girls spotted something they really liked – most often cute and cuddly Care Bears – we picked out a bear for them to hold on to as we finished our shopping.

When all the items were scratched off the shopping list and I began to check out, my husband returned with the girls to the toy aisle so they could put the Care Bear back on the shelf with its friends, always with the understanding that we would be back to visit another day. While some parents must have thought we were out of our minds and this technique would surely create the ultimate toddler tantrum, our girls merely said good-bye and blew a few kisses. We had always shopped this way; it was all they knew.

As the girls grew a bit older, they started asking why we couldn’t buy this or that and, always, they heard our familiar response: It’s not on the list. This, too, worked for a while. On occasion, though, there were a few tears, and still we held strong in our resolve; these toys would eventually find their way into our toy box after their birthdays, but not before.

To curb their desire from buying a toy, we began telling our children that anything seen in a store could be made at home. As a result, the toy box now contains a few of what we call “Stein Specials,” a few homemade Care Bears sewn from outgrown mittens and costumes crafted with needle and thread. Although these hand-sewn creations were nowhere near the caliber of their store-bought counterparts, the girls loved them. My own heart smiled when their eyes lit with fascination as they watched something created from virtually nothing, a little imagination, ingenuity and time, our only investment.

Fast-forward to early April 2008 when our family shopped on a sunny, Saturday evening that felt more like summer than spring. Once inside the store and in an effort to save time, we split the list in half, my husband traveling to one side of the store with one daughter to help, and me touring the other end of the store with my own helper holding the list, ready to cross off items as we placed them in the cart.

It was then my daughter saw it: The most beautiful scooter she had ever laid eyes upon, all decked out in girly pinks and purples.

Sadly, “scooter” was not on the list.

She looked up at me with those big blue eyes and said, “I know we can’t buy it, but can we check how much it costs anyway?” The price tag read an impossible $29.99. I gently reminded her of the beautiful bicycle she had at home and what fun we would have riding bikes this summer. Looking more than a bit dejected at this news, she circled the scooter, and I could see the wheels in her own mind beginning to turn. With the brightest of smiles, she exclaimed, “I bet Daddy could make it!”

With a new spring in her step, we continued through the store, reviewing our list as we went. When my daughter and I happened upon the rest of our family, she asked if she could go with her daddy, quickly explaining, “He needs to study the scooter so he knows how to build it.”

Giving me a quizzical look and now with both daughters in hand, my husband couldn’t help but ask, “What am I building?”

With a wink, I told him, our youngest would explain everything to him, and I made my way to the grocery section, thankful she was hooking her daddy into this one and not me!

By the time we made it home, the girls were tired, the scooter all but forgotten, or so we thought…

• • • • •

By the end of April, the girls had learned a great deal about recycling and re-using as they celebrated Earth Day in school. Springtime always inspires me to dig in the earth and, with the bright sunshine luring us outside one fine Sunday afternoon, my daughters and I planted peas in the garden, each of us happily working in our own plot of dirt. My husband, too, surveyed his farm fields and toured his daughters’ garden plots, patiently listening to their excited plans of what other crops they would eventually plant and where.

After my youngest had completed her planting and watering, she disappeared into the garage to return her watering can. When she emerged, in her hands she held two sets of old training wheels. Squinting into the sun and with a look of hope, she asked, “Daddy, do you think you’d have time to make me a scooter today? We could use these wheels.”

Though my husband was quick to explain she’d have to keep her disappointment in check if this latest of “Stein Specials” didn’t work, he would be willing to try. And so it was, this daddy and daughter made their way to the workshop to see what other supplies they had on hand that they might be able to be use.

An hour later and with a little creativity, a scooter began to take shape. A piece of steel cut to size and a piece of wood to match created the frame, the pieces fastened together by bolts hand-picked from the bin by daddy’s little girl. Next, this unlikely pair of inventors secured the four, old, plastic training wheels in place. Though the scooter still needed handlebars, together, they had made a start.

With a little more searching and rifling through the scrap pile, they found an old, worn-out shovel. Her daddy cut off the shovel’s handle with intentions of transforming it into the scooter’s handlebars and, though far from perfect, daddy’s little girl said, “It’ll do.”

Their creation now complete, dad and daughter beamed with pride as she tried out her “new” scooter, before offering her sister a turn. Though its plastic wheels didn’t glide over the cement as good as the store-bought, rubber-wheeled version probably would have, our youngest inventor didn’t seem to mind. She had herself a scooter!

And while it’s not likely this handcrafted scooter will stand the test of time, what will last are a little girl’s memories of a precious afternoon spent working side by side with her daddy in his workshop, making something out of nothing.

Happy Father’s Day to all those dads who give their children the gift of time well spent.

©2008 Stein Expressions, LLC