World's most embarrassing dad?

The video: On the first day of his sophomore year of high school, Rain Price watched from the school bus as his parents waved goodbye from the steps of their Utah home. Absolutely "horrified," Rain begged his mother to never do that again. His father, Dale Price, took the request as a challenge: "I thought, you know what? It's on," said Price during a Good Morning America interview. (See the video below.) Every day since, for a whole school year, Price has put on a mortifying costume — ranging from a shell-bikini-clad mermaid look to a pirate get-up — and waved goodbye to his son each morning. Though Rain initially cringed, 170 ensembles later, the "incredibly good-natured" son says it eventually became funny. Dad insists it was all one "father's way of saying I love you."

The reaction: Embarrassing? says Kara Kessler at TIME. Sure. But it's also clever parenting. I'm sure Rain was never late for school with dad there to send him off. Not everyone finds Price's antics charming, though. "If this is a father’s way of saying 'I love you,' we’d hate to see a father’s way of saying 'I hate you, son,'" says the Hypervocal blog. "While most fathers would like to avoid scarring their children for life, Dale Price seems pretty enthusiastic about it." Check out Price's costumes for yourself:

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