Moments in Parenting When You Don’t Know What to Say

When I first held my firstborn son and gazed into his innocent eyes, I knew that the world would corrupt him, so I decided then and there to do everything in my power to corrupt him myself.  To this end, I introduced him, a few years later, to toilet humor.  I made some crack about poop or something, expecting a giggle or a grin.  Instead, the boy looked at me with an expression of puzzlement and curiosity, and said, in a voice suggesting a subtle note of disappointment, “Dad, why are you being inappropriate?”