" You can do it, Markus, you're almost there," I shouted as I encouraged Markus who looked like wearing a baby diaper was equivalent to being in front of a battlefield. He has worn the diaper on the doll like five times and each time he was unsuccessful.
" How do people even do all these?" He groaned as he removed the diaper for the sixth time.
Looking at all the men, Mark was the only one who got a hang of what he was doing so fast, the remaining men, well I didn't know if I could call that wearing a baby diaper or wrapping trash. It was a funny sight.
" You're running out of time guys," The instructor said as she looked at her wristwatch.
I would have helped Markus but one of the rules was for us to sit and watch, and that was exactly what I did.
" This is ridiculous, how am I supposed to do this?" He sighed, dropping the doll and diaper.
" You seem to find enjoyment in watching me suffer,"
" How do you mean my dear? It's just a baby diaper,"
Markus finally focused on what he was doing, he looked like a man trying to pass a thread through the needle hole for the very first time.
To my surprise, Markus finally wore the diaper on the doll and it looked good, well that was fast.
" You got it," I said as I clapped my hands like his special audience that I was.
" Time up," The instructor finally said as some of the men groaned because what they did was a mess of baby diaper changing.
" Well it looks to me like some of you still have a lot of work to do," The instructor said as she carried a doll from one of the tables and displayed the doll that looked like this dad wore the baby diaper front to the back.
" This is a good thing, I'm glad that you all are ready to learn, you are here to know your strengths and weaknesses when it comes to parenting, so well done,"
I looked at Markus with a smile and he returned the smile with his hand going around my shoulder. He might not have gotten it at the beginning, but he got there.
Being a parent is not a day job, it's something that takes time and continuous learning.
" But this is not all," The instructor suddenly said making all the dads groan and the women chuckled finding the situation the men were in funny, I wondered what the instructor had planned for us.
" The same doll you just finished putting on the diaper, there's still another task left for you to do," Well like I said, being parents wasn't easy.
" What did she want now?" Markus groaned.
" I thought you registered us for this camp because you thought it would be fun, then why are you complaining?" I asked Markus who looked like the instructor was out for him.
" Yeah it was supposed to be fun, what's with the diaper changing and all?" He asked with a pout on his face.
" It's fun," I said with a chuckle.
" Why won't it be fun for you when you get to see me suffer?"
" Stop complaining, enjoy the game,"
" So Dad's, are you ready for another game?" The instructor asked as the not-so-cheerful dads answered with a barely audible yes. It was just so funny, they got their woman pregnant, were they expecting them to still do all the work?
" This time we are going to play dress up, so just like you imagine that those dolls were actual babies, well, Mr. Chris was a little too hard on the doll," Everyone laughed at that as Mr. Chris shyly rubbed the back of his neck and his wife laughed at him.
" So inside the bag beside you are baby clothes, you're expected to nicely dress the doll, nicely," She emphasized.
" You can begin," As soon as she gave them the go-ahead, the men opened the bag and immediately started dressing the doll.
" How is he doing everything so well?" I asked Gina, referring to Mark who had been doing everything like he had done it before.
" He's my older brother, we lost our mom when I was a baby, so he and my dad took care of me, they used to change my diaper, dress me up, and make my hair, so this isn't something new to him,"
" Oh," I simply said, now I get it. I wonder just how young he was when he took up such responsibility as a mother, big brother, and father all at the same time. I was sure his dad wasn't always around and he had to also play the dad role and now he was taking the responsibility of the father to his sister's child, God he is a strong man, and whoever the lucky woman that ends up being his wife would be well taken care of.
This time I guess wearing the baby clothes wasn't as hard as changing the diaper because in no time half of the men were done well except that the hair was a sorry story. I think they should just leave the hair for moms not like dads can't do it but moms are better.
" This is amazing, moms, don't you think so? A round of applause for dads please," the instructor said as we all applauded the dads who looked like they just came from winning the World Cup.
" I want you all to know that there will be times when moms would be so busy that they need your help in taking care of the baby, you made the child together, so why would moms be the only ones to do the work? And I want to advise you all that it is better to know your child as parents than leave them in the hands of nannies, just a little advice, I'm not trying to tell you all what to do, you all know what is best for your child,"
I know my kids are gonna have a nanny but I'm not going to leave all the work to the nanny, I'm their mother, not the nanny.
" Now that dads have done their tasks and moms are having fun laughing at them, why don't we have a switch, it's your turn moms, show us what you've got."