There are days when I feel I’ve done at least a decent job parenting my children. There are days when I have a sinking suspicion I’ve had a “bad dad” day. And, of course, there are a whole lot of days when I’m not quite sure. 

My wife, two kids and I were walking to my daughter’s end-of-the-year “portfolio” day when she reviews some of her academic work for my wife and me. Ethan (our son) had no choice but to be along for the ride. We found a parking place in front of a Whole Foods and as I grumbled about paying for parking (I will never get used to the amount of money we spend per month parking in the city), I heard heavenly voices cry out, “Free popsicles! Courtesy of Whole Foods, free popsicles!” Sure enough, there were two men walking around in front of the store handing out free popsicles. These aren’t the popsicles of my youth, though, chock-full of thousands of grams of sugar and artificial coloring. It’s Whole Foods so they were strawberry and I think they actually might be made with (gasp) real strawberries. My wife and I loved them as did my daughter who will eat anything in the strawberry family. You may have noticed that one person was left out of this pop-up feast.

Ethan.

He didn’t/doesn’t like strawberries and he certainly didn’t like those popsicles. As we were walking along State Street, I looked over at my glum son and wondered, should I not eat it so I can be in solidarity with him? The photo tells the story.