Today's post is from Jeremy Adam Smith. Smith is a contributing editor to Greater Good magazine, an editor for Shareable.net, and is the founder of Daddy Dialectic, a group blog by and about dads who embrace caregiving and egalitarian relationships. Smith is also the author of The Daddy Shift, the coeditor of The Compassionate Instinct, and coeditor of Beacon's forthcoming book, Are We Born Racist? He blogs about the politics of parenting at Mothering.com, where a different version of this post originally appeared on June 10th as part of his series: "25 Ways for Dads to Change the World."

"Last month my son and I were playing with his friend Oliver (not his real name) when Oliver had a seizure.

It came at me sideways; his scream possessed a rattling amplified quality, as though it were coming through an old speaker, and I saw his little body flex and seize out of the corner of my eye. I knew Oliver had epilepsy (as well as other difficulties) but I confess I needed an agonizingly eternal five seconds to understand what was happening. I was knocked out of my momentary paralysis by Oliver's mom, who leapt over to him and shouted at me to call 911. Even in the moment, some part of my mind murmured to me a reminder that I had been spared watching my child go through what Oliver was going through."

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