❤ Dad’s Column • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
❤ Edward Carifio
In the never-ending nature- versus-nurture debate, chalk one up in the nature column. My daughter loves the water. She
H
loves pools. She loves the beach. She loves the tub. She loves those big jugs of water businesses put out for customers, which said businesses immediately regret when my daughter escapes her parents’ clutches and leaks the water on the floor. From where we live, it’s a schelp
and a half to get to any public pool in town. Besides, their hours aren’t exactly friendly to those of us who work in the afternoon. There’s the ocean, but that’s a
couple hours away. And freezing too, I might add. But when we find our way to a
ow does a little girl growing up in the middle of the desert develop a love of the water?
Desert babies love the water... regardless of the temperature
pool or other large body of water, it’s worth the trip. We were recently in San Diego
one evening, and after a baseball game, we drove out to the beach. It was a cool, cloudy evening but we decided we had to get the baby (I know, 2 1/2 years old is well past the baby years, but it’s hard to admit some things) by the water. After digging in the sand (another favorite pastime of any child) for a while, Kiki decided it was time to go into the water. We’re in jeans and not exactly in
swim clothes. Fortunately, babies are water-ready — especially when they are still in diapers. So her jeans came off and she was ready to go. At least, she was ready to go
until she got to the shoreline. Then the cold probably got to the desert baby in her as she tried jumping up into my arms. So I pick her up, walk closer to the water, then put her back down. She’s whining, not really crying, mind you, and once
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again is trying to jump into my arms. That lasted all of 30 seconds.
Once the water washed over her feet, she suddenly forgot her quest to scale daddy as if she were King Kong going up the Empire State Building. She’s intrigued by the water. Then after about two minutes, I’m
sprinting full speed into the Pacific to keep her from swimming to Maui in nothing but a T-shirt and diaper. I’m not sure what clicked in her
brain after those two minutes, but all of a sudden she remembered how much she loves the water. Not sure why she forgot it in the first place, though I’m sure the “cold” weather had something to do with it.
When water trips are planned,
she’s usually in a bathing suit that has a built-in floatie. No need for those cumbersome water wings. It makes her brazen when it comes to water. She still has to kick like the dickens to stay afloat, but it
makes it possible for her to swim on her own. That makes it much more
difficult, however, at trips like the one to the beach when she’s not in the floatie. She’s pretty sure she can swim without the suit. She doesn’t really know the suit is doing at least half the work. The love of the water becomes
more puzzling when you factor in her parents. I grew up in Florida, and had a marginal like of swimming, but wasn’t exactly a fan of the beach. And my wife has a full-on aversion to the water. So how exactly does a native Arizonan, living in the middle of a desert, with parents who are at best water-neutral, become a full- fledged mini-swimmer? If you can answer that question,
you can make a lot of money selling baby books, and pass some of it on to me to help pay for the pool I need to buy.
Edward Carifio can be reached at
ecarifio@yumasun.com or 539-6882.
Ages 3 to Adult in Ballet, Jazz, Tap, Hip-Hop, Contemporary, Lyrical and Tumbling!
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Raising Yuma 7
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