Sands of Time: An inside look at raising the new generation of South County beachgoers – The Independent

For the first four months of her life, my daughter Molly hated the sun with, well, I was going to say the fire of a thousand suns, but she hated it so much, I dont even feel comfortable using the word sun in that context. If the sun was in her eyes, she would slam them shut, tilt her head back and try desperately to look in a different direction. She was too small to hold her head up straight, but she found super-human strength when trying to avoid sunlight. Sometimes, she cried a little. Even in the car, the sun shade on her window made little difference. We took to picking parking spaces according to sun exposure. We wondered if something was wrong with her. Did she have eye problems? Were her pupils not dilating correctly? Was she a vampire?

This is what my inner beach bum was up against.

Molly was born in May of 2019. That summer, we made a few trips to the beach-adjacent areas of Town Beach in North Kingstown but stuck to the shade. We never attempted a beach day. Dracula Baby wouldnt have allowed it.

As she got past her first few months of life, the sun resistance began to fade. Shes still not a huge fan my parking lot approach remains the same but we can deal with it.

And so Im trying to make the beach happen. Some dads push their children into sports, putting bats in their hands or getting them into skates as soon as they can walk. As a sportswriter, Id love it if she played sports, but I wont be the overbearing dad in that realm. Ill push her to succeed in school, to be a good person. But if Im going overboard anywhere, itll be in trying to make her a beach kid. The dad who ties his kids right hand behind his back to force him to be a left-handed hitter will have nothing on me, dad who puts 1-year-old on a boogie board.

You have to understand, I always wanted to be a beach kid. Geography made it impossible. I grew up in land-locked Louisville, Kentucky. I love many things about Louisville, but its distance from the nearest beach wasnt one of them. My parents both Boston natives felt the same way and packed up the family into our Chevy Astro Van for the annual sojourn to Cape Cod. I fell in love with the beach there. For two weeks every summer, I was a beach kid.

I always wondered what it would be like to live that life all summer.

When I moved to Rhode Island after college, I did my best to make up for lost time. I went as often as I could, whether for a beach day or just a dip. I moved from Cranston to South County. One year, I counted beach trips; the total was 73. I dont go quite as often now, but I still really love the beach. I have vowed never to take it for granted.

My daughter is a native Rhode Islander and shes growing up just a few miles from the beach. The stage is set for her to love it, and I hope she does.

A few weeks ago, we made our first official trip. Bathing suits. Sunscreen. She looked incredibly cute. She didnt mind the sun.

But, man, she hated the sand. And she wasnt a big fan of the water. I carried her in and dipped slowly. She cried and reached for my wife, Meg, who was standing on the shore a few feet away. I will convince myself its because the June water temperatures were still cool.

The good news? She was content to sit in her moms lap, listening to the waves, watching other kids splashing and building sand castles. At home, shes tough to contain these days, crawling everywhere and getting into everything. Here, she was calm and placid. Im taking it as a good sign.

We stayed a while, then packed up. Later in the day, we picked up some takeout for dinner and came back to the beach for a picnic. Rationalizing on my behalf, Meg thought the sand had been too hot when we were there earlier, so we gave it another go.

When her bare feet touched the sand, she screamed as if the three-month-old version of herself was stuck on the surface of the sun. She calmed down eventually, but its clear that the sand is our next hurdle.

Well keep trying.

After all, she didnt mind the sun this time.

Its a start.

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Sands of Time: An inside look at raising the new generation of South County beachgoers - The Independent