Well, if not a monster truck, what about a tank?
I sometimes think that my kids will share my views and tastes, that they will grow up to be bronzed, laid-back surfers like their father. Well, not quite. I am as pale as can be and prone to stress attacks.
But you get the idea.
The realization that this may not happen with my three young children came with their tastes in cars, at least my son’s.
I’d love a Volkswagen Van or even a Vanagon to drive on long cross-country trips to hunt out good waves and head into the deepest forests and high into the mountains of the Argentine Patagonia. We could sleep in the pop-up top on cold nights. And put on some Neil Young, Janice Joplin and Bob Marley as we cruise the open highways and drive north in the search of waves in Chile, Peru and then Ecuador.
Ah, the life.
Well, for me at least.
My seven-year-old son has different plans.
“Check this out, Dad,” he says with glee.
I look as he shows me the program he is watching on TV. Monster Trucks in action! This is what he wants for transport, something big and 4WD. The bigger, the better. And he wants me to buy it so we can drive wherever we want. And he’ll even let his older sister play Adele and Katy Perry as we drive down the beach.
I pause and ponder this and then conclude that, yes, flexibility is a good trait to have as a father.
