• Menu

This Is All I Need to Be a Fun Parent

“The usual bucket-rake-shovel beach toys or a bodyboard?”

Mark hesitated for a second. “Bodyboard.”

For 40 reais ($9.50), it was a good deal, even though I suspected that like riding the trottinette, it would be a steep learning curve. No worries, teaching him is right down my alley. I’ll never be a soccer or hockey mom, but I spent my teenage summers bodyboarding, windsurfing, and surfing along the Atlantic Coast.

Ahem… You never forget how to ride a bike—or catch a wave, right? RIGHT??

 “Do this,” “don’t do that,” and “seriously?” are probably the sentences I say the most at home. I’m not the fun parent and sometimes, I worry that I don’t spend enough quality time with Mark, that he always sees me working, being busy, or tired.

On top of that, I always feel vaguely foreign in Canada. I don’t really stand out—after all, I’ve been Canadian for almost half of my life now—but I wonder how Mark sees me because clearly, I didn’t grow up here. I can’t relate to his Canadian childhood. I always forget “pizza day” at school because guess what, we didn’t have “pizza day” in France. I don’t know local recess games—for months, I thought “Fortnite” was the Canadian version of tag or hide and seek. I’ve never made a snowman, worn a snowsuit or sang “O Canada,” I’ve never taken a school bus, celebrated Halloween or spent hours in a car every day. I don’t particularly like to watch movies, I can’t use the tablet and no, Mark we didn’t have Wi-Fi when I was a kid.

But I can swim and catch a wave. I’ll show you all the tricks, mon chéri.

Florianópolis, Praia do Campeche
Florianópolis, Praia do Campeche
Florianópolis, Praia do Campeche
Florianópolis, Praia do Campeche
Florianópolis, Praia do Campeche
Florianópolis, Praia do Campeche
Florianópolis, Praia do Campeche
Florianópolis, Praia do Campeche
Florianópolis, Praia do Campeche
Florianópolis, Praia do Campeche
Florianópolis, Praia do Campeche
Florianópolis, Praia do Campeche
Florianópolis, Praia do Campeche
Florianópolis, Praia do Campeche
Florianópolis, Praia do Campeche
Florianópolis, Praia do Campeche
Florianópolis, Praia do Campeche
Florianópolis, Praia do Campeche
Florianópolis, Praia do Campeche
Florianópolis, Praia do Campeche
Florianópolis, Praia do Campeche
Florianópolis, Praia do Campeche
Florianópolis, Praia do Campeche
Florianópolis, Praia do Campeche
Florianópolis, Praia do Campeche
Florianópolis, Praia do Campeche
Florianópolis, Praia do Campeche
Florianópolis, Praia do Campeche
Florianópolis, Praia do Campeche
Florianópolis, Praia do Campeche
Florianópolis, Praia do Campeche
Florianópolis, Praia do Campeche
Florianópolis, Praia do Campeche
Florianópolis, Praia do Campeche
Florianópolis, Praia do Campeche
Florianópolis, Praia do Campeche
Florianópolis, Praia do Campeche
Florianópolis, Praia do Campeche
Florianópolis, Praia do Campeche
Florianópolis, Praia do Campeche
Florianópolis, Praia do Campeche
Florianópolis, Praia do Campeche
Florianópolis, Praia do Campeche
Florianópolis, Praia do Campeche
Florianópolis, Praia do Campeche
Florianópolis, Praia do Campeche
Florianópolis, Praia do Campeche
Florianópolis, Praia do Campeche
Florianópolis, Praia do Campeche
Florianópolis, Praia do Campeche
Florianópolis, Praia do Campeche
Florianópolis, Praia do Campeche
Florianópolis, Praia do Campeche
Florianópolis, Praia do Campeche
Florianópolis, Praia do Campeche
Florianópolis, Praia do Campeche
Florianópolis, Praia do Campeche
Florianópolis, Praia do Campeche
Share this article!
Zhu

French woman in English Canada.

Exploring the world with my camera since 1999, translating sentences for a living, writing stories that may or may not get attention.

Firm believer that nobody is normal... and it’s better this way.

View stories

Leave a Reply to Zhu Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

10 comments