The kids get upset by the strangest things. The other week, N (the three year old) burst into tears because I’d given him the wrong color bowl for his cereal. He apparently wanted green.

I’m not one to give in to those sorts of demands. I calmly explained to him that he could have a green bowl the next time, particularly if he asked me ahead of time, and that he needed to work past his crying. I then settled down to eat my breakfast. I like to give them a chance to pull themselves together before doing anything.

His older brother, however, was not so cold-hearted. After he realized that I was not trying to stop the crying, he patted me on the arm. “How about a song, Daddy? I have a good idea for a song?”

“That would be nice,” I said. “How about Supercalifragistic Expialadocious, even though the sound of it is really quite atrocious?” Marry Poppins songs are always good to distract from crying.

He had other ideas. “No… Even better.”

“Hmm… Spiderman, Spiderman, does whatever a spider can! Can he“

“No… Even better!”

A guessing game? Okay. We’d done Mary Poppins and Spiderman, maybe he was going the throwback route I tried a Wiggles song: “Fruit Salad! Yummy, yummy!“

“Nope.”

“Frere-Jacques, frere-jacques dormez-vous?“

“No…” He laughed. “Even better!”

“I don’t want a pickle, I just want to ride on my motorcycle...”

“No! Even better!”

I was stuck. “You win. What’s the song?”

He closed his eyes and tilted his head back in classic ballad-singing fashion. “When I find myself in times of trouble, Mother Mary comes to me…“

N had stopped crying by now. He clapped his hands and shouted. “Hey! That’s Daddy’s song! That’s Daddy’s lullaby!”

His older brother stopped singing, crossed his arms, and nodded proudly. “Yep. That’s Daddy’s song.”

“Great job, kiddo,” I said. “Great job.”