Doug was babysitting his granddaughter and took her for a walk. As a game he let go of the baby stroller and let it roll down a hill before catching it. His daughter saw this and freaked out. But he always did this with her and his other kids and it was never a problem. So why is she so upset? Have you ever played games like that with a baby stroller? Is Doug a good grandpa or a bad grandpa?
Jonathan: On the phone with us right now we’ve got Doug.
Doug: Hey, good morning. Good morning.
Jonathan: Fantastic Doug, thanks so much for asking. So, Doug, your problem is you seem like a wonderful grandfather, but your daughter disagrees and thinks that you’re an inhuman monster.
Doug: That is a very accurate description of what I’ve got going on. And I tell you, Jonathan, I’ve been great in my daughter’s eyes for her entire life. I have had no problem taking care of children. My entire life has been very blessed with it. But my little grandbaby, her son, I was pushing them in the baby stroller, just as I have done in the past with her and my other children.
Jonathan: Wait. So was you were watching him. Were you babysitting or you were just over at their house or what?
Doug: I was babysitting. My daughter was doing something. And I’m entrusted to take care of my little grandson.
Jonathan: Mm hmm.
Doug: And I was out there pushing them in the stroller. It’s just a little fun thing I like to do is just give her a little push, especially down the hill. Just a little push. Let her go by herself for a second. Then I’ll come and catch up to the baby stroller and pick it up. There is no harm, no foul. No danger at all.
Jonathan: Okay.
Doug: In this issue at this particular time, I push my little grandbaby and here comes my daughter driving in the car right around the corner at the same time. I feel she saw it out of context because all she saw was the baby going down the hill. Free-For-All.
Jonathan: With you chasing after the stroller.
Doug: Right, right, right. So there’s no real panic on my face, right? That’s all she saw. And now she won’t let me near the baby. She’s just really livid and upset. And I don’t know what to do cause it’s the holidays and I don’t want to cause any issues. It’s just so upsetting for me.
Jonathan: Walk us through the confrontation with your daughter. Like she must have thought that something was wrong because you were there chasing after a stroller. And then when she saw what did you tell her? I didn’t lose control. I did that on purpose?
Doug: Well, I did explain it to her, I don’t know if it went over that great. I said, Hey, I did this with you and you turned out just fine. No scratches, no bumps, no bruises. You know, the little baby is going to be all right.
Jonathan: Okay. And let me ask you something, because I need to know this. The conditions of the sidewalk, what were they? It’s not a cracked up, beaten, crappy old sidewalk. It’s fine. So there’s no chance the baby stroller would tip over?
Doug: No, not at all. But I really feel all she saw was just me with no hands on the stroller and that stroller going down the hill.
Jonathan: So she thinks you’re irresponsible. You think that you’re just a fun grandpa, and you did this with your own kids and they were fine.
Doug: Yeah.
Jonathan: All right. Well, Doug’s problem is he likes to take his children and grandchildren basically on a cheap amusement ride by letting them in their stroller roll down a hill while he chases after it.
Doug: They just happened to be at the exact moment. That’s when my daughter sees me and that’s where she lost her mind.
Jonathan: Okay. All right. Who do you agree with here? Doug or his daughter? Doug, thank you so much.
Doug: Oh, absolutely. I appreciate you guys.
