She would have wanted me to be used this way

Regarding the use of children as attention-getting props, my dad notes:

You were also a bit of a chick magnet at that age. When we lived on the East Side of Providence, I'd wander down to Thayer Street with you in tow and got much the same reaction. I think I crossed the line (jumped the shark?) when I tried selling the line that your mother was tragically lost at Three Mile Island.