Look at Our Pretty Nails
Whoa! What? Did I just find the fountain of youth? Am I a relative of Juan Ponce de León? No, you silly gooses (I mean geese). I might be a little overzealous in my statements but it appears the research says that I will lead a longer life due to one thing that I consider important…especially with three little animals…errr I mean daughters! It is my ability to laugh at myself!
I think this is an important trait and one that I am trying to get the girls to embrace. It really surprises me that most adults seem to lose this ability somewhere as they grow up. When did the fun police come and take this ability away? Think I am being too quick to judge other people? Well let’s take two recent instances in which I watched people’s reactions to some silly behavior brought on by being a silly dad.
There were two recent instances where I received the ire of some parents and others. The first was when the girls decided that I needed to get a manicure from a six, five and four year old. They had their nails done by Mary and figured Daddy needed a set of pretty nails as well. First mistake was letting them do three nails each. Let’s just say, some have the ability to keep the polish on the nails better than others. Second mistake was not paying attention to the nail polish being used. Little did I know that most nails were being done with latex stuff that comes off easy. Most translates into five nails having the more permanent form placed onto them. Nail polish is very much a PITA to get off…Now I know why you need to put some of those harsh chemicals on it to get that junk off.
I went to the gym the following day. I received some questioning glances from both guys and girls. I’m really not sure if they approved or disapproved of the nail polish. Maybe it was not the polish at all. Could I be too smelly? Did I forget my deodorant….again? I laughed it off and had a good workout anyway. It gave me an inner chuckle that I disrupted their day just by doing something out of the ordinary. One thing that I have learned over the years is not worry about how others view you. If I led my life in the pursuit to make others happy, I would be the one that would truly be unhappy. How could I really be unhappy with a great set of nails?? No not really it looked pretty bad:(
Do You Think People Will Like Us?
The second time was when we went to the Kohl’s Discovery Center in Glenview. The girls pick which places we go inside the building. Well, someone thought it was a great idea to paint our faces. No, it was not good enough for them to do themselves, they thought it would be a great idea to paint my face as well. I hope they steer clear from makeup artist because I looked like a clown by the time they were done. What is more important was that we all laughed together and had a good time with it. Instead of being super serious and being a parent that would not do something so childish, it really created a bond with them as they saw I could do the same thing that other parents would not think to do.
It was interesting. I had plenty of stares while we remained there with our painted faces. I did receive one high five by a woman who thought it was great. Not one other parent took the time to look at their silly side and enjoy the moment with their kids. STOP BEING SO SERIOUS and get the sticks out of your ARSES. At what age did it become “illegal” for us to enjoy being a kid. Do I need to act like a stuffy crabass all the time (I do that enough at work…just ask my guys). I almost kept in on for the ride home as I wanted to get pulled over by a police officer to see how they would react. I bet I would get a laugh out of one of them.
By continuing to do the silly things with the girls, I have tried to make them understand that it is good to laugh at yourself. I truly believes it teaches them to not worry so much about what others think about you. If you are happy with yourself and can laugh at yourself, you are one step ahead of many other people including adults.
The science even supports my non-scientific beliefs. A Mayo clinic study suggests that people tend to worry less when they laugh more. Going along the same vein, less bad stress increases your emotional and physical health and decreases things like headaches, heart disease, digestive issues, anxiety and depression. Whoa! I know I have shocked you by now but check these other health benefits of laughter.
- Improved heart health – It can protect against heart attack and heart disease
- Handle Life Better – Negative issues that occur in your life will not have the same level of ill effects on your body. Moreover, it will lessen the effects of inflammation within the body which can lead to variety of nasty illnesses like diabetes, cardiovascular disease, arthritis, cancer, dementia and depression.
- Manage Pain Better – Think you can manage pain good now? Studies show you will have a much better pain tolerance with a little bit of laughter
- Better Short Term Memory – Your short term memory might get a boost also from laughter as the studies show people with added humor were able to retain things better….Granted this study used geriatric people but we will all be there one day, right?
The bottom line is to stop taking ourselves so seriously and show the kids we can do the silly stuff with them so that we can all enjoy each others company and now have a stick up our arse!