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Oh, No. I have never done any of these as a parent. It looks like I am doomed!</p>
<p>However, I have one very special “talent” though. Whenever I open my mouth, I could make the listener (esp. family members because (s)he has listen to the same thing zillions of times in the past) very sleepy very quickly.</p>
<p>One night while DS had to stay in a hotel due to a winter storm on his way to (or from?) school, and he could not fall asleep. We were worried as it was already pretty late and he needed to get up early next morning to catch the last leg of flight. Then we thought putting me to the phone might help. Sure enough, after I started to talk, within 10 minutes, he was sleepy and ready for his sleep.</p>
<p>Since then, whenever DS had a trouble getting into sleep, our first reaction is: “Get the Daddy on the phone.”</p>
<p>Oh…since his early childhood, almost all educational toys (including tradional ones like blocks, but especially for those which have the modern gadget flavor like computers) were introduced by this dad (He and I together wrote a very primitive video game, using a kid-friendly LOGO semi-programming tool called MicroWorlds, as a Christmas gift for me.) Does this count as “bonding” experience? I also hunt down well too many good math/physics problems for him to “enjoy” (most came with my personalized “hint/insight” and detailed solutions) before college. Does this count as well?</p>
<p>See, Dad has some something that Mom does not have.</p>
<p>But overall speaking, I admit the kid is still much closer to the Mom. I have zero chance to compete againt her as she is a stay-at-home mom and spends all the time with him while he was growing up. But the (grown up now) kid knows when to ask dad (instead of mom) when needed. By pure coincidence, I learned about his admittances to college as well as professional school before my wife. My wife really hates this.)</p>