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Daddy Play With Me!
An Excerpt from the book Hidden Messages: What Our Words and Actions are Really Telling Our Children (McGraw-Hill, 2000)
By Elizabeth Pantley
Maybe if I'm just quiet and smile real big, Lily thinks. So she looks up at him with every fiber of her being poured into her smile, every good thing in her soul spilling from her eyes. Still on the phone, her daddy smiles back vacantly and plops a plate down for his daughter, then disappears into his wife's office with a plate for her, too. Lily's best smile fades as she quietly eats her dinner to the hum of Daddy's voice on the phone.
Afterward, of course, the parents are busy. There's dinner to be cleaned up, garbage to be taken out, bills to pay ... and all the while, Jeff's little one – who naturally will not be little forever – patiently and proudly waits beside her latest Lego masterpiece. She just knows he'll notice it soon. She knows it's the marvel of engineering brilliance sure to draw him into her world. But the doorbell rings, and Jeff strides right past her to answer. Perhaps after the visitor leaves, she wonders. It's Rahul, their neighbor. He needs help getting his lawn tractor started. "Hate to bother you, Jeff, but you think you might have a second to look at it?"
"Of course," Jeff replies, his thoughts registering te day last week when Rahul was there at 6:00 a.m. to jump start Jeff's car. "That's what good neighbors are for."
