Revealed at the end, Dad’s acceptance of his son’s being a real boy.
I had difficulty understanding my son’s interest in tractors, and at first, I tried to nudge Avishai toward different videos and clothing. But then I remembered how hard it was for my father to trust me to follow my passions, and the way we connected after he finally did. I took on being an at-home father because I wanted to bond with my son, and I realized that meant I needed to let him discover his own interests. He had to define his own identity, not influenced by my own bias of what I deemed to be too masculine.
I started taking joy in his joy. He radiates wearing his shirts emblazoned with diggers and dozers and excavators. At 3 ½ years old, he can name dozens of types of tractors (I always thought there was only one). He makes up quasi-gibberish tractor stories, sings quasi-gibberish tractor songs. Together, we clean the living room: He uses his tractors to put all his toys away. Sometimes my dad comes over and we drive tiny plastic machinery from room to room. My son beams. My dad beams. I beam, too.
I’ve got some really bad news for you Epsilon Dad. The attraction to tractors not only shows that your child is a (gasp) boy, he is likely to be a red-stater at heart. You’ll have to release him into the wilds on the west side of the Appalachians where he will be adopted by a family of barbarians unfamiliar with the importance of a bagel with a thick schmear. They will Make Avishai Great Again.
Thanks to Tractors and Combines, that’s how food ends up in the Supermarket. But I guess that concept is too much for wokesters to grasp.
Sounds like the kid might raise the man
Well, there is hope for Dad after all.
Reminds me of setting my sister's Barbie dolls on fire and then blowing them up with firecrackers.