Welcome to A Father’s Voice for June 2007. But I Don’t Want to Be Bigger is about a moment in time when my children seemed to refuse to grow up, despite all of the evidence to the contrary, and how maybe it was in part because I didn’t want them to grow up either.

This month’s A Father’s Voice is proudly sponsored by A New Father’s Voice. Father’s day is right around the corner and if you know a new dad or someone who is about to become a new dad, give him A New Father’s Voice. It is a collection of my favorite articles for new dads – 10 useful articles in all. And it is only $5 for this valuable eBook. For more information or to purchase and receive the link to download it immediately, please visit www.DaddyHandbook.com.

A Father’s Voice is my chance to share my voice with you about the challenges and rewards I experience trying to be a very involved father while overcoming my childhood and having to work full-time away from our home. I write during the only disposable time of my day – my train ride to and from home. I hope you will subscribe to A Father’s Voice by visiting www.AFathersVoice.net.

But I Don’t Want To Be Bigger!

By Jeremy G. Schneider, MFT

The other night our whole family went to have Chinese food together. As we were getting ready to go outside into the frigid cold, I started zipping up Elijah’s jacket, but was having a little bit of trouble. It was the second or third time I had done it that day and now I was pretty certain. I turned to my wife and said, “I think we need to get him another jacket. He is getting too big for this one.”

“No!” he almost screamed.

“What, Elijah?”

“No, but I’m not getting big. I don’t want to be bigger!”

And therein lies the crux of many of our problems.

I’ve always thought that most children wanted to grow up fast. Being older or bigger means being able to do things they can’t do now, it means privileges, rights, they don’t currently have. It is only as we get older that we wish for time to slow down, to pass by less rapidly. But I am finding myself perplexed that neither of my twin three-year olds really want the privileges of growing up.

You can hear A Father’s Voice in my voice below, subscribe to A Father’s Voice podcasts, check out A Father’s Voice archives, read the rest of this month’s column, and even subscribe to Two Okapis, my Digital Daddy Diary. You can always share your voice with me by commenting on this site or emailing me.