On occasions more often than not, I hear the conversations of MANLY men in my office building, the gym locker room, and many other places that guys talk. Beyond football, NASCAR, business transactions, hunting leases, and small talk, I hear something that really bothers me. I hear these MANLY men complain about how they couldn't finish watching "the game" because they had to BABYSITT their kids. It just infuriates me when I hear this. They are YOUR kids that you helped bring into this world, so why oh why would you call it babysitting?
The MANLY men, who walk around beating on their chests like they just field dressed a deer on the hood of their truck........in a business suit! LOL. It just really bothers me that some (not most or all) guys seem to think that fatherhood just means that their only responsibility is to put food on the table, but not much else. It almost seems as if it is an inconvenience to them to spend quality time with their families. I know that sounds a little extreme, but that is the overall tone of the conversations I hear.
I absolutely dread cutting my grass, especially with a push mower, but it is what it is. It normally takes me about an hour and half to cut all of my grass, so to me, that is an hour and half I could be playing with my kids. I already work about 10 hours a day during the work week, so my time at home during the week is very limited. Since I can't press the pause button to do chores or conquer the honey-do lists, I try my best to tie them together. Case and point - the pictures you see.
Marley has a great time laughing and playing while I pull her in her wagon all over the yard. She is happy because she is next to me and she gets to ride around, I am happy because she is enjoying herself, and I get the grass cut at the same time, and Elisa is happy because she gets little break, and can recharge her batteries a bit.All I am trying to say is the MANLY men need to actually MAN UP!! Sometimes you have to be willing to try something different to get different results. I am just tired of hearing excuses like "The game is on", and "I just got home from work" to get out of doing what is the most important job they have....being fathers. Yes, I like watching sports, yes I have my own hobbies, yes I work very hard (and occasionally get stressed out) at my job, I am not a hypocrite. But I know that Miles and Marley are reading me, they are watching my every move, and learning from my behaviors....so yes, I will drop what I am doing for them just to let them know that they are my #1 priority (under my wife) and that I want to care for them. Even when I have bad days at work, I try my best to put a good game face on for them and leave work at work. Hopefully, if I do this thing right, my kids will remember how important they were to me and when they have kids they will do the same.
So for you MANLY men who can't EVER turn off NFL Network, have become slaves to the Xbox/Playstation/Wii Gods, or say they are just plain too tired........MAN UP, and do your job......THERE IS NO EXCUSE.
