My thoughts on a page.

This is a post for all of you dads out there,
The reality in most families with children,
is that the father goes to work,
and the mother stays at home.
It may be like this for a few months,
Or for many years.

Whilst the mother is at home,
she shares so many everyday moments,
with her children.
For a long time she is their world.

Looking in as an adult,
we imagine,
that the child sees dad leave every day,
and then return home.
Some of us worry,
“Is our partner not spending enough time with his child?”

When our first child was about 15 months old,
I realized,
that despite this absence by day,
my daughter adored her dad.

Every evening when he was due home,
I’d tip her off.
She would stand in the hall,
watching out the window,
waiting.
No mobile phone…
so it was quite a wait some days!

Then the excitement.
Dad was home!
She could barely contain herself,
as his car pulled into the drive.
He too loved her reaction,
as she showered him with hugs and kisses.

Quite by chance one Friday,
he decided to bring her a treat.

He stopped at the shop,
and instead of a packet of sweets,
he bought a mix of penny sweets.
Just a small bag,
with a variety of jellies.

The following week,
he did the same.
It became a ritual called,
“Friday Sweets”.

Move things forward twenty one years,
The same “little” girl is at college.
Every Friday she returns home,
and she looks for her dad and “Friday sweets”.

So my advice to moms and dads is,
stop fretting about lost time,
and making up with grand gestures.
The equivalent of €3,
every week,
keeps four children aged 11-21,
eagerly anticipating the return of their Dad on a Friday!

It’s the simple things,
that often leave the biggest impression.

photo credit: IronRodArt – Royce Bair (“Star Shooter”) via photopin cc

photo credit: <a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/nevernameless/67791333/”>camerondaigle</a&gt; via <a href=”http://photopin.com”>photopin</a&gt; <a href=”http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/”>cc</a&gt;