Do I have anything in my teeth?
Not too long ago, my wife’s family was in town…this included her dad, and a few of her sisters. I was actually showing them my Baby vs. Burrito video, which my father-in-law loved, when I saw the strangest thing…my wife picked her dad’s nose hair as he was watching the screen. Another sister grabbed his head, and started fixing his hair.
Pops, as I call him, didn’t budge. He kept watching the video and laughing (Note: My father-in-law is 78 years old).
As another example, when my wife was in early labor, she was clipping her dad’s toenails on the couch. This woman was about to give birth, but first she was taking care of her dad’s grooming.
Now, I’m absolutely smitten with my daughter, which makes me realize that someday Babs may very well be doing all this to me, and I won’t have a problem with it at all.
This made me think…
At what age do the tables turn, and my daughter is given full access to care for me, as opposed to me caring for her?
I’m thirty now, and she is zero. I help to take care of her, although I haven’t mastered putting on baby’s clothes…that is hard!
Next year I’ll be thirty-one, and she’ll be one. I have a feeling that we’ll still be primarily taking care of Babs then, not vice versa.
When she’s fifteen, and I’m forty-five, do I let her comb my hair, or is it still my job? If it is her job, will she continue to spike it, or will she be embarrassed and tell me I need to start parting my hair.
Is fifty the age when the tables turn? Babs will be twenty at that point, so should I expect her to be clipping my nails, and picking out my clothes, when she is on summer break from Harvard? Moreover, will she also be the one responsible to shop grooming products for me at that point? Maybe, she’ll be more particular of the type and brands and will get me to choose from different types of shavers on ProductExpert instead.
When I’m eighty, Babs will be fifty. Based on an equation I put together last night, I think I’ll have a fair amount of ear hair by then, so will she shave/pluck it for me?
I do not currently have the answers to these questions, and there is only one way to figure out what the age is when a daughter has the right to pluck, clip, and cut her dad’s hair and nails.
All you girls out there next time you see your dad, try to pick his nose hair. If he shakes you off, do it again the next morning. Keep a daily journal over the next three months of your attempts. Email them to me, I’ll put them in Excel, and then I will put together a more comprehensive report for the benefit of everybody everywhere.
I have to go pluck my elbow hair now.
*Watch tomorrow’s (Wednesday, July 7th) episode of LIFE OF DAD, featuring an exclusive interview with my father-in-law.