Musings of a Suburban Dad

Welcome back! It's been a great weekend, but I wanted to take the time to discuss someone near and dear to me. My daughter, of course! She is soon to be 11 years old, and she loves her daddy. It seems lately, that we have spent more time together than we have in the past. Part of that is due to the fact that my wife now works Saturdays, so I'm responsible for all of those weekend activities (practices, birthday parties, sleepovers, etc...). It's okay, really. This is just payback for all those business trips in which I wasn't involved and forced her to manage and deal with.

About two weeks ago, our subdivision had a Reopening the Pool Party in which they handed out keycards to gain entry into the pool. Of course, the kids were really excited about the pool reopening and looked forward to some cool fun. We have one problem though; My daughter has grown 5 inches in the past 9 months. As a result, her bathing suit doesn't fit! Arrghhh!! Of course, my wife reminds me of this 'problem' on Friday evening knowing full well, she will be unable to do it. So I sit my daughter down to discuss the 'mission' and what the parameters are. My rules were pretty simple. They went something like the following:

1. It must cover your entire butt
2. You will not show cleavage
3. Your top will not be padded to give you more than you have
4. Overall, you must still look your age and not 6 years older

So the first stop along the way was Target. We saw several bathing suits we liked (many more I didn't like) and we found 3 that she wanted to try on. About 10 minutes later, she walks out with a silly grin. The conversation with something like:

Me: What's wrong?
Her: Hmmm...They didn't fit
Me: What do you mean, they didn't fit?
Her: The bottom to these were smaller than my underwear.
Me: They were a women's medium. That can't be.
Her: (((shrug)))
Me: (((Blank stare)))
Me: Let's go to the next store

So we went to Justice...Yeah, that was a waste of time (lol). The next store we stopped in was Kohls. The selection at Kohls was satisfying. But of course, she could only wear the swimsuits in the women's department (in case you haven't figured it out, my daughter at almost 11, has curves like a 16 year old). So we find a few bathing suits with both small and medium bottoms, and several different tops. After 5 minutes, she calls for me to come back to see one that she likes. She opens dressing room door...

I'm starting this next paragraph because there are some things a dad should not see/experience. A dad should not have to experience his daughter's first period (check, didn't experience that!). Also, a dad should not experience his soon to be 11 year old daughter's cleavage. Yep! I said it. I walked through the dressing room doors and saw my daughter's boobs. She was embarrassed, I was embarrassed. My first words to her were "That top is not going to work. I will find you another top with less cleavage and one that you will feel comfortable in". And I immediately walked out the door.

So back to the racks of bathing suit talks we go. After 15 minutes of searching, I find one tankini top that just so happens to be in her size (hallelujah!!). By the way, the entire time, all I'm thinking about is purchasing a shotgun (lol). This is my baby girl! I held her like a football when she was days old, she slept on my chest when she wouldn't sleep at night, she puked on me when I would set foot into the house after a long day of work. Her first words as a toddler were "touchdown" (lol). She was truly a girl after her daddy's heart. And now I have to deal with the maturation of her becoming a young lady. I'm soooo not ready for this!

So I take the tankini back to her along with a different style bottom. She tried them both on and asked me to take a look. I opened the door and was happy to see my little girl, in a bathing suit, looking like a 10 year old girl (YES!!). The tankini covers her appropriately and she felt comfortable in it. The bottom covered everything and she liked it. SCORE!! Dad wins by a TKO!

The pool party was a resounding success! My youngest boy and girl were quite happy to see their friends and cool off in the hot Atlanta sun. The only unfortunate thing is that I was stung by a wasp while at the pool on my thigh. A 8 year old kid told me to 'suck it up', so I did (lol). However, the best thing that came from that day was the smile from my daughter's face as she splashed, played in the sun and surf. I think in the end, she figured out that shopping with her old man isn't so bad after all. In fact, something tells me when it's time to shop for a prom dress, daddy will get the call :-)