But Dad

In pondering the title, I thought of various witty or apt catch phrases that would somehow give the reader a clue to the tone and subject matter of its content. Names such as “Tales from the Crib”, “Crayons to Car Keys”, “Toy Box Chronicles”, “Parenthood aka Utter Chaos”, and “Daddy’s Rollercoaster” surfaced, but none seemed to capture the essence of “But Dad”.
One day while reprimanding my children, I realized that most of the retorts, explanations, and excuses for their questionable behavior began with, “But Dad!” Was this phrase a required part of speech I somehow missed in English101?

A windfall of words used to defend, justify, or rationalize their behavior, no matter the situation, always follows, “But Dad”. Regardless of how articulate or well thought out their excuses may be, my brain simply processes these sounds as, “Blah, blah, blah, lame excuse...blah, blah, blah, misdirecting blame...blah, blah, blah, empty reasoning…blah, blah, blah, grasping for straws…blah, blah, blah, I am lazy and immature and want to get my way…blah, blah, blah. But, Dad, you just don’t get it…”

Now and again, I am actually impressed with the creative thought process used to defend their unacceptable behavior, and on rare occasion, they actually bring up some logical points. Nonetheless, my brain usually tunes out and all I hear is, “But Dad! Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah…