By India McCarty
YouTube star Dude Dad (a.k.a. Taylor Calmus) recently shared the story behind why his fourth of July involved a trip to the hospital.
“Parenthood is full of curveballs,” he wrote in a Facebook post. “I ended up spending the fourth of July in the ER this year but not because of fireworks. Our 4 year old ate not just one tiny magnet but two. Not at the same time…he had one, then two hours later he was like…hmm… yeah…let me get another one of those. Luckily he thought it was cool enough that he told us about it.”
Calmus and his wife called poison control, who confirmed that he needed to go to the ER. The major point of concern was making sure that both magnets passed through his stomach and avoided getting caught in the lining of the wall of his small intestine.
“Ultimately the doctors decided that they were small enough and weak enough and that little man had no symptoms,” he continued. “So we just needed to give him some time and check his stool see if they come out but if they don’t in a few days, then we would have to explore other options.”
Luckily, Calmus’ son managed to pass the magnets with no problem a few days later.
“My apologies for the graphic story conclusion but you know what? Parenthood is graphic,” Calmus wrote. “It is not for the faint of heart.”
Even with emergency trips to the hospital, Calmus still encourages his fans to enjoy every moment with their kids.
In an Instagram video posted earlier this year, he said, “Heidi showed me this video from five years ago when we just had two kids, and they were 3 and 1, and they were these adorable little creatures that spoke in broken sentences and never talked back. And my wife said, ‘Don’t you wish you could go back and live one more day with them like that?’ And I thought about it and my answer was, ‘Of course,’ but I also know in another five years, I’ll wish I can come back to right now.”
“Think about yourself 20 years from now and what you wouldn’t give to go back to this moment right now and relive it,’” he continued. “It’s easy to reminisce about the past ‘cause we are now older and wiser. The hardest place to be is right now. We as parents need to figure out how to enjoy right now, because it doesn’t always last long.”
Calmus has also spoken about the importance of being present when spending time with your children and not getting swept up in grand plans.
“I think it’s common among parents: We spend so much time doing things that we forget what our kids really want and need is just our attention,” he told Business Insider. “We have to remember that it’s not about always going above and beyond. It’s about just showing up. When we’re so exhausted from keeping them alive, just being there with them is enough.”
Whether it’s an average day of playing or a sudden holiday trip to the ER, Calmus wants his followers to embrace the chaos of parenthood.
Read Next: Dude Dad, Friends: ‘You Have To Share Your Heart With Your Kids’
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