Boy, do I love my kid. One of the things we do together pretty regularly is play video games (not too regularly, don't judge me). He loves it. I love it. I love spending time together, solving puzzles, stomping koopa troopas. It's always me playing with him watching/directing but I know at some point that will change.
One time we were struggling through a hard part, and he was getting frustrated. I offhandedly said, "yeah, but hard is fun! If the game is too easy it gets boring." Well, it stuck with him. Now the student has become the master. When we're playing and he sees me starting to get frustrated, he always says "hard is fun, right daddy?" It gets me every time, and I remember why we're doing what we're doing. It's not about getting it right the first time, it's about spending time with my son. Struggling, laughing, figuring it all out.
Now I think about that phrase a lot when I'm struggling with something non-koopa related. I'll be butting my head against a wall and I hear his voice in my head: "Hard is fun, right daddy?" And I step back, take a break, and remember why we do hard things. Because they're fun. Because if they were easy they would get boring. It's OK if we don't get them right the first time, we can try again. And when you're with someone who also thinks hard is fun, it makes it a little less hard and a little more fun.
Boy, do I love my kid.
