Growing up is hard and can be pretty embarrassing at times. As parents, we know this. This is why we want to do everything in our power to lessen any mortification our children might experience.
Ben Sowards from Utah got the chance to do just this for his daughter when he got a phone call from her school. He was told to head to the school because his daughter Valerie had had an accident; she had not made it to the bathroom in time.
Knowing Valerie was probably feeling shame and embarrassment for something that commonly happens to growing children, he knew he had to do something to make the situation less-uncomfortable for his little girl.
A great idea came to him then. Maybe he could lighten the mood and remove attention from her! Thus, Ben Sowards purposely spilled water on his own pants to make it look like he, too, had had an accident and urinated on himself.
When speaking with Huffington Post, Ben Soward told his interviewer that he knew his own daughter would instantly feel a lot less self-conscious once she started laughing: “Honestly, I knew she was mortified, but I thought if I could make her laugh everything would be fine.”
And this was a sure way to get his little girl laughing!
When Ben Soward walked into the school and headed to the principal’s office to pick up his daughter, he asked his daughter for her bookbag. When Valerie looked at him questioningly, he quietly told her that he needed to hide something. Just what could that something be?
When she saw his pants, she understood what he meant and knew everything would be just fine. She even walked out of the school with her head held high.
Dad knew he had done more than just pick his daughter up from school that day: “She was totally exasperated. But, once she saw my pants, I got that look from her where I knew everything was OK. All dads know what look I’m talking about. And we just strolled out of the school like nothing was happening.”
Ben went a step farther than most to ensure his daughter left the school without shame and embarrassment, and for this reason, we salute Ben Soward. You can hear some of his thoughts on the virality of this selfless act below:
We here at APost hope that our readers come up with more brilliant ideas like this to save their children from embarrassment! Has something like this ever happened in your life? Show this to a friend you know would do this for their own kid!