When my first daughter was born, I decided I wanted to be a father who encourages discovery and curiosity.  This, of course, means that I could not lose my temper with my kids as they bombarded me with, “Why?  Why?  What’s that do?  Why?”  I’m not perfect, so sometimes this “curiosity fostering father” thing ain’t all it’s cracked up to be.  Yesterday, however, I remembered why I had made such a decision.

Not every father would risk losing a finger for his daughter, but that’s exactly what I did as I scooped a really big snapping turtle out of the ditch of water in our back yard.  He was massive and probably weighed around ten pounds.  My oldest daughter was standing at the sliding glass door, watching intently, but not daring to move.  (Her sister was unfortunately asleep.)  I carried him closer and she stared, wide-eyed and curious.  It was priceless.  I knew she was thinking how brave I was to carry something to her that could remove a digit from my hand.  For the few minutes I held him, I owned the world.

She bombarded me with questions:  “What kind of turtle is that?  Why is he so big?  Is he mean?  Do other turtles bite like that?  Why does he want to bite you?”  And let’s not forget my favorite:  “Can we keep him?”  Truth is, if I had a place to put him where he could survive happily and where I could be sure no little girl fingers could get in, I would have kept him, just for her.

But, I set him down in the grass and we watched together as he crawled slowly back to the water.  His shell could be seen for a few seconds at the top before he swam down and disappeared.

I was happy and, yes, a little proud of myself, that yet again my I got a chance to spark my daughter’s curiosity.  This weekend, I think I am going to take them back to the lake again, to walk the trail.  We usually get lucky and spot chipmunks, squirrels, and all sorts of birds that I get to name and answer bombarding questions about.  This is why I knew I wanted to be a father, why I am glad that I have the responsibility to teach my own children about their world.