Maybe it’s because I am a guy but growing up I never really had a freak out, celebrity crush as a kid. And I guess I don’t remember any of the other girls at my school going crazy for the likes of New Kids on the Block or the original JT(T), Jonathan Taylor Thomas.
My friends had their Trapper Keepers and probably a t-shirt or two but it’s not like the Bieber hysteria I see on television. It makes me wonder when my daughter will undergo this phase.
I cringe at the fact that I may have to hang out in the parking lot with the other dads as we wait for our daughters to finish fainting at the next boy band concert. I figured since my daughter is only three years old, I would have a few more years of peace and quiet.
Turns out I was wrong.
The other night I walked in on my daughter and I caught her in the act. I was horrified. I was shocked. I was speechless. And she didn’t stop.
She had climbed the dresser and was planting wet kisses on the television screen. But they weren’t random kisses. They were calculated, precise kisses on the lips of the boy on the screen. I gasped at my kid, “what are you doing?!” And she innocently replied, “kissing Caillou.”
Caillou. The pouty, bald kid who is always complaining to his mom, had been accepting my daughter’s kisses. I had to find out why, so I bluntly asked her, “why are you kissing Caillou?” She looked at me, collected her thoughts and declared, “because I like him Daddy.”
That was it. This wasn’t an act of defiance or rebellion. She simply liked a fictional, cartoon boy and wanted to show him the same affection she shows to everyone else she adores.Did I momentarily freak out because she was kissing a boy? A little bit. But I guess it’s the realization that I won’t always be the only guy in her life. I just hope whomever she picks doesn’t look anything like that creepy Caillou kid.
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By day, Jackson is an account manager but as soon as the work bell rings he assumes the position of nose wiper, short order cook and playground referee. Married to contributor Cassidy, Jackson blogs at Jack and the Baby Talk, providing a dad’s perspective on everything from watching his wife become a mother to tales of his daughter’s 3 year old antics.
