The Father Who Lived a Million Times: The Story of a 'Bad Guy' Father Who Stopped Coming Back to Life [Father's School | Parenting Edition]

Hello. I am my son's father.

This is the 'Parenting Edition,' where I write about past stories bit by bit as I remember them.

This time, I would like to write about the time when my son started attending kindergarten.

The days of 'battles' with my son who started kindergarten

Around the time my son started kindergarten.

His first-person pronoun changed from 'boku' to 'ore,' and his play became more rambunctious.

The trend for my son during this period was,

Sentai Heroes & Kamen Rider

I also returned to my childhood, and every Sunday morning, I was glued to the TV with my son.

Inside the toy box, the Anpanman toys were pushed to the back, and the ones given the prime spots instead were,

the 'weapons' of the heroes and riders

When it was a day off, the 'battle' would start from the morning (lol).

Father vs. Son negotiations

One Sunday, while having breakfast.

Son: 'Hey Dad. What are we going to play today?'

Father: "Hmm, how about a remote-controlled car?"

(Remote-controlled cars are easy because I don't have to move around.)

Son: "I want to 'fight'."

Father: "I see. But remote-controlled cars are fun too. Let's try building a road or something with blocks."

This is where the negotiation happens.

I have to try to steer him toward the remote-controlled car somehow.

But my son's answer is always the same:

Son: "I want to 'fight'!"

The Rules of Combat

There is a procedure for 'fighting'.

- Knock down the combatants

- Then, a 'strong guy' appears

- After fighting on equal terms, finish them off with a special move

Roughly speaking, these are the three steps.

I must faithfully reproduce this procedure.

All (Father)

Combatant (Father)
"Ha-ha! I'm going to wreck this planet!"

Son: "There you are, villain! Take that!!"

Combatant A (Father) is easily defeated with a single swing.

Combatant B (Father) immediately attacks.

The combatants press the attack with sheer numbers.

Son: "Hyaaa! Hup! Shing!"

Combatants (Father) are cut down one after another.

Then, the "strong one (Father)" makes a long-awaited appearance.

Strong one (Father)
"Not bad. But can you withstand this attack? Hup!"

Son: "I won't lose! Waaaah!"

It is necessary to put on a performance of an evenly matched battle here.

The two are evenly matched in strength.

At the end of the battle, the son is in a pinch due to the strong guy's (father's) special attack.

At that moment, the son finally brings out that thing.

Son: 'Take this! [Name of Special Move]!'

With practiced hands, he activates the weapon's gimmick, and a loud sound effect blares from the speaker.

(Sound effect)
Cling! Zabababa! Boom!!

Strong guy (father):
'Gwaaaah! To think that I, the great one, would be defeated!'

And that is one set.

The son looks satisfied after defeating the 'bad guy'.

And, without a moment to catch his breath,

Son: 'One more time!'

The father immediately gets back up and starts over from the 'combatant' part (lol).

The Father Who Lived a Million Times

Come to think of it, how many times have I been defeated by my son?

No matter how many times I was defeated, I would come back to life each time, only to be defeated again.

Getting up from lying on the floor is harder work than you'd imagine.

And I did it over and over again.

I'd be dramatically taken down, get back up, corner him until he was almost winning, and then get taken down again.

As a combatant,

As a strong guy,

Sometimes, as a monster that grew giant from a mysterious beam.

I would be defeated by his finishing move, accompanied by his signature line.

And yet, I would come back to life again.

I wonder if I came back to life a million times.

In every one of those 'returns to life,' there was my son's satisfied smile.

That smile was what spurred on the heart of this tired 'villain'.

The End of the "Battle"

When was the last time I was defeated?

It was noisy, exhausting, but also incredibly cute.

Those "days of battle" were packed with such memories.

And before I knew it, those "battles" had disappeared.

My favorite weapons were pushed to the back of the toy box, giving up their prime spots to the next set of toys.

And so, there was no longer a role for the "villain" to play.

Thus, in our home,

"peaceful days without battles"

arrived, and the "villain" no longer needed to come back to life.

Postscript

Thank you for reading until the end.

Moments like when they first accomplished something, or when you were aware of an ending, like a graduation.

These "conscious moments" remain strongly in the heart as memories.

However,

Things that stopped happening before I knew it

I felt that evidence of growth was quietly left here as well.

The 'end of the battle' feels like such a quiet testament to growth, and also like a milestone in parenting.

Recommended past articles

A child's growth happens at their own pace and in their own time.

Worrying and rejoicing.
This is a record of our family's growth.

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