The Bishop family of Festus, Missouri, can smile now, but a few months ago the mood was much more somber as Courtney, Jake and their 3-year-old daughter Hazel said goodbye to a very important member of the family: Hazel's beloved pacifier.
"It's not good for her teeth and her jaws and all of that, so we had been trying to wean her off of it for some time," Jake, 35, said.
Hazel's beloved pacifier, affectionately known as "Paci," had been with her for years. Jake knew saying goodbye could come with tears and tantrums, so he searched for creative approaches to ease the transition. He considered options such as cutting off the end of the pacifier, soaking it in vinegar or planting it in a pot.
Instead, Jake chose to give Paci a funeral.
Of course, before the internet, parents used to just take the thing away and deal with the tantrum. But today, for better or worse, young parents like Jake would rather not go to war over a binky. They're "pacy-fists," if you will.
"You need them to go through some tough times to really grow as a person but you don't need to make extra tough times for them," Jake said. "They'll have plenty of those coming up."
Parents delight in making milestones, but those milestones are often bittersweet because each turning point is a point of no return.
"She's transitioning to the next stage of her life," Jake said of Hazel, their first child. "We just got to hold onto those moments and those memories, because it goes fast."
Hazel hasn't asked for Paci again since. Although, shortly after the ceremony, Jake dug it up and buried it again in a keepsake box, making dad the one who just can't let go.
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