Big Daddy

Last autumn, Bas Vodde and James Grenning were visiting Hangzhou. Bas Vodde is a friend and ex-colleague of mine. James is an Agile coach. He's one of the principal authors of the Manifesto for Agile Software Development. They came to coach TDD for our company.

We went to a Korean restaurant after work one day and I drove the car. When the CD in my car played:

"M-I-C-K-E-Y..."

Bas said, "I don't know that you like Disney music."

"You know", I said, " I'm a dad now." (My baby was about 1 month old at the moment.) "I have to learn these children songs. You know, in case one day I have to teach her."

And Bas asked, "Bah! But isn't it more fun to learn together when she grows up?"

It seemed that I had never thought about that as an option, although what Bas said was simply true. I wanted to learn those songs before my daughter even knows anything, so that she will think that her almighty big daddy knows everything. I'm not sure if it's my own problem, or every daddy is just trying to do the same thing:P Showing off shouldn't be more important than enjoying the fun with my baby. These coaches, they always know how to pinpoint the subtle problems and challenge you directly.

I answered Bas, "You are damn right!" And then I switched the CD.

"Oh, your baby likes Pink Floyd.", said James Grenning.

I said "No, no, that's for myself. Shall I switch back to Disney music?"

"Pink Floyd is fine."