January 22: Dads, the underrated heroes
Apparently, I'm a good dad, though I'm not sure if I am yet.
My son is 11 months old. He has six teeth and he likes to eat his socks. He likes baths and white bread and armpit zerbits.
Babyhood is a pretty cool phase but I'm not sure what to do as my kid gets older. The one thing I definitely want to do is get him into magic. I'm not a professional magician but magic has been good to me these past 30 years. I don't make my living doing it but I do supplement my income and I make a lot of people very happy in the process. I wish the same for my son.
One of my magical mentors once told me that when he was very young, a relative, who happened to be a professional magician, gave him a copy of Dai Vernon's Cups and Balls manuscript and ordered him to perfect it.
He did. He makes a living doing magic today.
When my kid is about nine or 10, I will sit him down and tell him how I think the world works. I will tell him that the world doesn't owe him anything and that if he doesn't offer it something, it will chew him up and spit him out. He owes the world work and he can choose two sorts of jobs, skilled labour or unskilled labour.
Unskilled labour means something anyone can do with a wee bit of training. Anyone can sweep a floor or wash dishes or stick price tags on teapots. Because anyone can do it, the job market is a lot more competitive, which means your wages will be low.
Skilled labour is something not everyone can do. Not everyone can put a puck in a net or do open heart surgery or get OJ Simpson off for murder or perform Dai Vernon's Cups and Balls.
By the time my kid is 10, he will have watched me perform hundreds of magic shows. I will tell him that soon, very soon, he'll be old enough to have a part-time job and would he rather wash dishes at Berk's Fried Chicken for $9 an hour or do magic shows at little kids' birthday parties for $100 a pop?
I'll give him the skills to get there. You know I will.
But if my kid doesn't like magic - if hockey or writing or playing the trombone is his thing - I won't push it. What I will push him to do is excel at something. Anything. But he won't be spending his adolescence locked in his room and playing video games.
I will also tell him to be a better man than me.
I'll tickle him too.
I said before that I'm sure my son will be in the audience when I do a magic show. It would be a greater thrill for me to be in the audience while he does a show.
I don't need to bask in the spotlight then. I can be the underrated hero.
My son is 11 months old. He has six teeth and he likes to eat his socks. He likes baths and white bread and armpit zerbits.
Babyhood is a pretty cool phase but I'm not sure what to do as my kid gets older. The one thing I definitely want to do is get him into magic. I'm not a professional magician but magic has been good to me these past 30 years. I don't make my living doing it but I do supplement my income and I make a lot of people very happy in the process. I wish the same for my son.
One of my magical mentors once told me that when he was very young, a relative, who happened to be a professional magician, gave him a copy of Dai Vernon's Cups and Balls manuscript and ordered him to perfect it.
He did. He makes a living doing magic today.
When my kid is about nine or 10, I will sit him down and tell him how I think the world works. I will tell him that the world doesn't owe him anything and that if he doesn't offer it something, it will chew him up and spit him out. He owes the world work and he can choose two sorts of jobs, skilled labour or unskilled labour.
Unskilled labour means something anyone can do with a wee bit of training. Anyone can sweep a floor or wash dishes or stick price tags on teapots. Because anyone can do it, the job market is a lot more competitive, which means your wages will be low.
Skilled labour is something not everyone can do. Not everyone can put a puck in a net or do open heart surgery or get OJ Simpson off for murder or perform Dai Vernon's Cups and Balls.
By the time my kid is 10, he will have watched me perform hundreds of magic shows. I will tell him that soon, very soon, he'll be old enough to have a part-time job and would he rather wash dishes at Berk's Fried Chicken for $9 an hour or do magic shows at little kids' birthday parties for $100 a pop?
I'll give him the skills to get there. You know I will.
But if my kid doesn't like magic - if hockey or writing or playing the trombone is his thing - I won't push it. What I will push him to do is excel at something. Anything. But he won't be spending his adolescence locked in his room and playing video games.
I will also tell him to be a better man than me.
I'll tickle him too.
I said before that I'm sure my son will be in the audience when I do a magic show. It would be a greater thrill for me to be in the audience while he does a show.
I don't need to bask in the spotlight then. I can be the underrated hero.
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