Moving Beyond the Package

I figured I should be a good sport and go into the new kiddie-pool with the young'uns, so I emerged from the house in a bathing suit, and Daniel asked, with some degree of surprise:

"Daddy, you're swimming?"

I asked, "Yeah, why?"

Daniel explained his surprise, "Well, there is a picture of the mom and dad watching."

It all made sense. On the box that contained the new swimming pool, there is a picture of an idyllic nordic family at play - two blond adults and three happy blond children enjoying their high-quality swimming pool, and in this picture, the adults are looking on dotingly as the children actually play in the pool. So it was definitely a breach of the commercial model for me to be planning on splashing in the pool, rather than looking on with fawning admiration.

However, once he had contemplated this bold new paradigm, Daniel decided that he wanted me to go into the pool, and Ian seconded the motion, pointing out that I can still watch the children in the pool from within, rather than from the periphery.

(July 4, 2011)