DTV

Attention: the following post contains nothing about bicycles. I mean, other than the quick comment that some parent rode theirs to the football game and locked it up in the stands; but that's it -- no bike talk -- other than the previous, which I thought was pretty cool. That's really it though.

You may be familiar with the theory that 20% of the people in any organization do 80% of the work. My hunch is that some of my regular visitors are that 20% kind of person. If so, you know what it is like to be a Dad That Volunteers [or an MTV].

One of the advantages to having spent years as a coach, scout leader, Sunday school teacher, classroom dad, etc., etc. is that you get to know the kids that your kids hang around with. As a result, the kids get to know you as well. So it was last night, when I took Curtis and his buddy Darius to the game so we could watch Katie and Jonathan march. We sat down and within 5 minutes I had a pretty steady rotation of between 6 to 15 11-year-olds keeping me company. Two mothers of boys that were in both my soccer team and my Cub Scout den were sitting on the edge of the group as well.

Last night's game was perhaps the best I've seen in the 8 years I've had kids at the school. I was actually enjoying watching the guys play football. The moms had taken off in the middle of the first quarter and came back towards the end of the second quarter. That is when I got into hot water. "Where's my son?!?!" "Huh?," I replied. The mom points her finger at me and says "I thought you were watching my son. Where is he?" I gestured over my left shoulder towards the top of the stands down by the 20 yard line. Did I know that this is where he'd be? No -- but that is where 11 year-old boys tend to end up at some point. I told her, that I was actually watching the game, not the kids. I figured this would have elicited a bit of a glare at least -- but, no real response of any kind came from the mom. Turns out she thought I was kidding because her son was, indeed, right where I'd indicated (without looking).

Anyway... if you're an 80%er -- don't just assume that the 20%ers exist to keep track of your kids; they may just be there to watch the game.