The other day I was walking along the beach in the early morning when I happened upon a dad and son. The little boy, who appeared to be about 4, was frolicking in the waves and splashing water everywhere.
I could tell as I approached the scene what was going on. I’ve seen it so many times before. Probably because we live in Florida, where there are nice beaches and a lot of fun activities to do with children, we have a lot of parents bring their children here for a fun time. I can usually spot a single long distant parent with their visiting children right away. They seem to flood our area during the spring and summer.
I knew that this was a noncustodial parent who had his son visiting for a few weeks. I knew because the dad was not interacting much with the son. He had a more or less bored look on his face. If the truth were told, the dad probably doesn’t have much of a relationship with his son.
He doesn’t have a clue what his son likes to do. He doesn’t know what his son likes to eat. He doesn’t know how to communicate or talk to his son. In fact his son is really a stranger to him. In many situations like this, the child has been primed to be excited to get to visit his daddy. And children being children will get excited to go to the beach or Disney World or any child like place where kids are treated special.
