A man came home from work late, tired and irritated, to find his 5-year old son waiting for him at the door.
SON: ‘Daddy, may I ask you a question?’
DAD: ‘Yeah sure, what it is?’ replied the man.
SON: ‘Daddy, how much do you make an hour?’
DAD: ‘That’s none of your business. Why do you ask such a thing?’ the man said angrily.
SON: ‘I just want to know. Please tell me, how much do you make an hour?’
DAD: ‘If you must know, I make $50 an hour.’
SON: ‘Oh,’ the little boy replied, with his head down.
SON: ‘Daddy, may I please borrow $25?’
The father was furious, ‘If the only reason you asked that is so you can borrow some money to buy a silly toy or some other nonsense, then you march yourself straight to your room and go to bed. Think about why you are being so selfish. I don’t work hard everyday for such childish frivolities.’
The little boy quietly went to his room and shut the door.
The man sat down and started to get even angrier about the little boy’s questions. How dare he ask such questions only to get some money?
After about an hour or so, the man had calmed down , and started to think:
Maybe there was something he really needed to buy with that $25.00 and he really didn’t ask for money very often The man went to the door of the little boy’s room and opened the door.
‘Are you asleep, son?’ He asked.
‘No daddy, I’m awake,’ replied the boy.
‘I’ve been thinking, maybe I was too hard on you earlier’ said the man. ‘It’s been a long day and I took out my aggravation on you. Here’s the $25 you asked for.’
The little boy sat straight up, smiling. ‘Oh, thank you daddy!’ he yelled. Then, reaching under his pillow he pulled out some crumpled up bills.
The man saw that the boy already had money, started to get angry again.
The little boy slowly counted out his money, and then looked up at his father.
‘Why do you want more money if you already have some?’ the father grumbled.
‘Because I didn’t have enough, but now I do,’ the little boy replied.
‘Daddy, I have $50 now. Can I buy an hour of your time? Please come home early tomorrow. I would like to have dinner with you.’
The father was crushed. He put his arms around his little son, and he begged for his forgiveness.
It’s just a short reminder to all of you working so hard in life. We should not let time slip through our fingers without having spent some time with those who really matter to us, those close to our hearts. Do remember to share that $50 worth of your time with someone you love.
So very, very true.
Time is not an unlimited resource and there is no refund it you choose to spend it on something stupid.
My time is incredibly valuable and I choose to spend it wisely.
Axx
nice post i like it.
And how can you refuse a child wanting your time…
I like that post. A time with your family is priceless.
Hi all of you above
thanks so much for commenting that you like the post….it seems you are not alone. This post had over 2,300 hits yesterday. WOW! It also received a number of positive reviews on stumbleupon. FANTASTIC. I am grateful that the message of community child protection is reaching the hearts of the masses
Thank you to each of you that stumbled, linked or submitted the post to your social networking sites. I am very grateful to your assistance in keeping kids safe and well adjusted..
Hi Megan. Even though I could see how this story was going to end it still hit me hard. Remembering all the times with my children when I’m busy doing other stuff and only half attentive to them. Timely too, as I’m picking up my little one in an hour or so for the weekend together. For sure, she’ll get more of my time today as a result of this post. My daughter thanks you in advance! Ian
Hi Ian
I hope the two of you have a wonderful weekend together. You are not alone in reflecting on time lost. Me too….some of the times haunt me because I wasn’t even pretending to be present. If only I could have that time over.
Thanks so much for taking the time to comment Ian. I appreciate it and I really appreciate that you are a caring father.
aawww…this is so sweet~ <3
i liked it. it reminded me of the song The Dollar
Thanks Bak and Dale. Spending your time in a comment is valuable and I appreciate it, and you.
Thats a fantastic analogy of how we all waste the precious little time we have, and how fast it goes.
That story is so sticky sweet I wanted to throw up.
Thanks you for this post. It is the truth, and as a pretty new daddy, it is also some good medicine.
This is so sweet. :\ It makes me tear up.
If only everyone would realise that our time with our children is indeed precious, and we should spend every moment we can with them – not just work a job we don’t like, to gain money to buy things we don’t need.