The other day, my daughters brought home a book from the library called . It’s full of great examples the help you identify Dads who haven’t grown up yet. For example, they know that shopping carts are designed for racing, and they tend to spend a lot of time outside with their kids, in sun, rain, or snow.

While the book is pretty funny and has some good illustrations, it was also a good reminder to me about what’s important to my kids to have in a Dad.

I like to think about my responsibilities: I need to go to work to support the family, or make sure the kids are disciplined when they disobey so they can learn how to interact well with others as they grow, or mow the lawn/clean the driveway of snow in the winter. And those things are important, but those aren’t the things my girls ask me to do with them. And they’re definitely not the things they’ll remember when they grow up.

They’ll remember the wrestling matches, or the books read, or the forts built. They’ll think of the games of tag, the bubbles blown out on the driveway, and afternoons at the park.  Sure, the other responsibilities need to get done (and trust me, they will). But when I’m laying on the trampoline, exhausted as the girls laugh and bounce in circles around me, that’s the moment when I say to myself, “This is the best job ever.”