‘Firsts’ For Kids Are Special

My son will turn 4 this Summer, so we have had many special times. Some of the special memories of course are the firsts for various things.

First time crawling, those first steps, first words and many others. They are all special once in a lifetime events.

But then there are the firsts outside the home. The first haircut at a hair shop was huge.

I still remember the first tooth appearing in his mouth. But later it was the first visit to the dentist.

At first we focus on ourselves as parents getting the big sensation of all this. As time goes on though, that focus is shifted to concentrating on the sensation the child gets when they experience something for the first time.

That leads me to the heart of this story. The other night we were watching a show on TV that had a scene showing people bowling.

My son asked me: 'Dad, what's that?' I informed him it was people bowling in a bowling alley, taking for granted that he would totally understand.

But he immediately came back with the question: 'What's a bowling alley?' The best way I could answer that was to load him up in the car and head to the nearest lanes.

As we opened the door to walk in, it hit me. A big first is happening right here before my eyes. My little guy is going to see a bowling alley for the first time in his life.

So I took it all in watching his reaction and it took me back about 50 years to the night I went along with my dad for the first time on his bowling night. I remembered how that experience stuck with me for rest of my life.

My son and I watched the action on the lanes until he got his eyes full and then we went home. Since then we've been back there 2 times.

I dug out my old bowling bag from the storage closet with my ball and shoes. We found some children's shoes and a 6 pound ball at the bowling alley for my son.

And now we have established Friday afternoons as our bowling day. What's really cool is we've also recruited mom to join us.