My five-year-old daughter watched with excitement as my son rode away in the backseat of his friend’s mom’s van. With my one-year-old sleeping, my daughter had me all to herself.

“It’s daddy-daughter day!,” she yelled as she jumped up and down.

“What do you want to do?” I asked.

She ran to the sliding glass door and pointed to our backyard. “Let’s play on the swingset.”

I agreed as I put on flip flops and walked outside with her. I probably should wear tennis shoes. Nah, it’s not a big deal.

For the next 20 minutes I played with my daughter as she climbed up the rock wall, slid down the slide, swung on the trapeze bar and spun on the tire swing. Finally, she asked if I would push her on the swing.

I gave her some good pushes, but she wanted more. So I pushed her higher and higher. She loved every bit of it as she laughed with delight.

“Dad,” she said as she kicked her legs to continue going, “did you like swings as a kid?”

“Sure did,” I answered. “I used to like to lay on my stomach and swing, pretending to be Luke Skywalker inside a Tauntaun from The Empire Strikes Back“

“A what?” she asked confused.

“Never mind,” I answered.

“Will you show me how to swing on my stomach?” she asked as she jumped off the swing.

I showed her how to swing on her stomach. She wanted to try.

As she swung on her stomach she asked me to push her. I gave her a push on her feet and she went soaring.

“Again, again,” she yelled. I gave her another push.

As she swung back, I decided to surprise her, so I started to run around the front of the swing. I tripped on my flip flop and stumbled forward. This is when I wish I would listened to my first instinct and put on tennis shoes.

As I lunged forward, the outside of my right foot smacked the wood support bracing the swing set. My pinky toe took direct impact. It hurt bad as I hopped in pain on my left foot. Immediately I knew something felt wrong.

“What happened, Dad?,” asked my daughter as she hopped off her swing and ran to me.

“I think I broke my pinky toe.”

“Let me help you,” she said as she put my arm over her shoulder. “Let’s pretend you are an old man that can’t walk and I am helping you.”

So nice of her to help her injured Dad limp into the house.

My pinky toe was swollen, red and black. It was definitely broken. If only I had worn tennis shoes, or if knew better than to attempt to run in flip flops. Either way, it’s important to remember to protect your toes when you are playing around a swing set.