Doctor Stinker

Both my boys are very into superheroes right now. Actually they have been for some time. Chris, my four year old, likes Superman and Spiderman. Tommy, the two-year old, thinks Batman is cool. They have a fair amount of superhero gear. Chris has a full superman outfit, complete with cape. Tommy has a Batman plastic mask and a utility belt. They think it is great fun to gear up and run around the house, chasing ‘bad guys’ and putting them in jail.

Usually that bad guy is me.

One evening while playing this game, as I was led off to jail, Spiderman (no costume for him yet) said to me, “What’s your name, bad guy?” Wanting to stay in the spirit of the game, I growled, “I’m Doctor Stinker, and I’m going to get out of jail and get you, Spidey!”

Thus a legend was born.

Now when I walk in the door after work each night I never know if I’m going to have two little boys run up to me yelling “Hi, Dad!” or whether I will be accosted by two scowling superheroes saying, “You’re going to jail, Doctor Stinker!”

It’s grown beyond a simple character. It’s now a game in and of itself. Chris, who now takes great pleasure in using the telephone, called me at work one afternoon and asked me, “When you get home, can we play Doctor Stinker?”

The game Doctor Stinker is really little more than the Character Doctor Stinker chasing the boys around the house and, upon capture, tickling them silly. The capture of one boy requires the other to attempt the rescue, which is usually successful; whereupon we chase and capture again.

The superheroes have found a unique way to delay bedtime. When being tucked in for the night, one or both boys will say, “Goodnight Doctor Stinker” instead of “Goodnight, Dad.” A comment like this cannot go unpunished by tickles, which gets them all wound up and prolongs the time until they fall asleep. Much to the dismay of my wife.

I just can’t help myself. Or, more correctly, Doctor Stinker just can’t help himself.

It’s great to be The Family Man.