Mr. Marlon Taught a Lesson

Finding Nemo would have not happened if Marlon were not an uptight father who could not escape the traumatic memory when he lost Coral, Nemo's mother, and hundreds of Nemo's potential siblings by a brutal attack of a Baracuda.

Driven by his fear of experiencing another lose, he had over-protected Nemo unnecessarily. In addition to that, Nemo was born with different size of fins out of which one is smaller than the other. Instead of encouraging his son to swim better, Marlon would rather discourage and even constantly reassuring that Nemo could not do it.

Being wrath to his father discouragement, Nemo chose a dramatic way to prove himself which was then led to the tragedy. And the tragedy has made Marlon swim the entire ocean along the way to Sydney not only to find his son again but also to learn a fatherly lesson.

How many of us has been in Marlon's shoes? I have been there so many times for K, my two years old son who has been stubborn-headedly ignored my warnings and would rather prove himself. Oftenly he won the prize, and I could only smiled bitterly...proud but annoyed. Not annoyed for his success of doing things on his own but annoyed for the "what ifs":
What if he got choked and the water run into his nose? - when he was insisting to drink from the bottle.
What if he hurt himself with that stick? - when he played the wooden spatula like a drum stick.
What if he broke the cd? - when he wanted to put the DVD back to it's holder.
And many more.

Luckily I did not have to swim the entire ocean to find my son. K has always been there. Cute and stubborn. Adorable yet notorious. Always being curious with any new things he found, to try, to touch, to feel, to taste. Sometimes I wonder whether it is a right decision to tell him don't. Sometimes I just let it be...despite the hovering "what ifs" in my mind.