Life & Parenting: Tyrannosaurus Rex

The lights are out and I’ve tucked my little boy under the covers.

Me: “What was your favorite part of the day?"

Reed: “The zoo.”

Me: “What was your favorite part about the zoo today?”

Reed: “The dinosaurs.”

Now, just a few hours earlier, Reed was sobbing, terrified by the animatronic dinosaur display. I explained that they were just machines, I pointed out the black speaker boxes underneath them making the noises, that their mouths didn’t have any spittle in them, that their eyes didn’t blink.

And I hugged him. Tight and close as I could.

Because sometimes fear isn’t something you can explain away.

But here, now, in the comfortable confines of his room, his favorite thing of the day was the thing that terrified him the most. I cannot quite put my finger on it, but there is something about that which I really find admirable.