I know I didn’t put this in my profile, but I am father to three beautiful and wonderful children, two of which are daughters.

 

Recently, I happened to hear, and listen, to the words of a popular song that took me back to when my own daughter was very young.

 

The song is by Darius Rucker, a country singer, and the song is entitled “It won’t be like this for long.” The singer was first singing about having a newborn baby girl.

 

The lyrics of the song that took me back were:

 

Four years later, ‘bout 4:30

She’s crawling in their bed

And when he drops her off at pre-school

She’s clinging to his leg

The teacher peels her off of him

He says “What can I do?”

She says “Now, don’t you worry,

This’ll only last a week or two”

 

“It won’t be like this for long

One day soon you’ll drop her off

And she won’t even know you’re gone

This phase is gonna fly by

If you can just hold on

It won’t be like this for long”

 

This brought back specific memories – I can recall vividly when my daughter was a toddler about that age, or a little younger, during a short period that my wife and I were both working and at a time when we had to take my daughter to daycare.

 

I didn’t always get that daily duty because I had a long morning commute. But for a few weeks – and I don’t specifically recall the situation that required me to take her to the daycare – I had the privilege of taking my daughter every morning.

 

This daycare set-up was actually very nice. We were taking my daughter to the home of good friends, who were also the youth minister of our church and his wife. They – it was primarily the wife – also looked after a few of our other friends’ children as well, and even one of my daughter’s very good toddler friends at the time. So it was cordial.

 

But, as the song goes, “when he drops her off at pre-school, she’s clinging to his leg,” I can recall my daughter’s tears that would begin as we would get close to the daycare house. She recognized the streets as we pulled into the neighborhood each morning. When we did, she would start to sob quietly while sitting in her car seat.

 

I remember the first morning, she just looked up at me, with tears running from those round puffy eyes and said ”Daddy, please don’t make me go.”

 

You talk about tough on a dad!

 

That song really brought those memories flooding back.

 

And, as the song lyrics also say, it won’t last for long. That too is real – it didn’t last for long. My daughter cried less as the days went on, and after a while, she stopped crying altogether.

 

That was years ago. My family and I were extremely fortunate in that my wife continued working only for a year or so longer and it wasn’t necessary for us to leave our children in daycare.

 

The length of time when our kids are kids goes by in a flash. Now, both of my daughters are in college.

 

The daughter who cried as a toddler and told me she didn’t want to go to daycare has since told me that she doesn’t even remember that incident. But for this dad, it’s something I’ll never forget.