Parents of small kids who are trying to think how to get their own offspring to wear lifejackets or PFDs should take special note of Joseph's tactics...
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| Note that the collar on a kid's lifejacket can cushion the little head during a nap! |
May 26 (2013)
Island siesta. Today we loaded up the canoe and drove to Inland Lake, accompanied by a very dubious toddler. "No tanoe, walk walk," he called sadly from the back seat. Watching us tie the ungainly vessel to the roof, Ryan had decided that canoes were inherently boring things. So he muttered and complained all the way to the lake, right up until his gigantic life jacket was introduced. It was a critical moment, since to kids these are essentially buoyant straitjackets of doom. "Ryan," I said, measuring my words, "this jacket makes you look like a fire truck." And then we cast off, and my proud fire truck knelt in the prow of our boat, staring raptly ahead, as silent as the sun. Around him the lake moved, sparkles dancing on the waves. He was speechless, absolutely amazed. And 30 minutes later he was asleep, so much so that when we made landfall, I had to carry him bodily ashore like a shipwreck survivor. I propped my guy up on a log, and there the nap continued. Nobody does rockabye like a boat in motion.
Island siesta. Today we loaded up the canoe and drove to Inland Lake, accompanied by a very dubious toddler. "No tanoe, walk walk," he called sadly from the back seat. Watching us tie the ungainly vessel to the roof, Ryan had decided that canoes were inherently boring things. So he muttered and complained all the way to the lake, right up until his gigantic life jacket was introduced. It was a critical moment, since to kids these are essentially buoyant straitjackets of doom. "Ryan," I said, measuring my words, "this jacket makes you look like a fire truck." And then we cast off, and my proud fire truck knelt in the prow of our boat, staring raptly ahead, as silent as the sun. Around him the lake moved, sparkles dancing on the waves. He was speechless, absolutely amazed. And 30 minutes later he was asleep, so much so that when we made landfall, I had to carry him bodily ashore like a shipwreck survivor. I propped my guy up on a log, and there the nap continued. Nobody does rockabye like a boat in motion.
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