A Reality of Parenthood.
The following little anecdote occurred one winters day somewhere in the Mid West.It had been a tense day resulting from little things that didn’t get done in time, and when it came to dinner, and everyone had gathered around the table, the air was thick with tension.
Young Ben had just turned five and spoke his word freely to the world.
He suddenly turned to his dad and asked him with big eyes: “ Dad, what is a real man?”
“Oh, his dad replied surprisedly shaken from a numb daydream, a real man is one who cares for his family and who puts the bread on the table!”
The boy, momentarily out of his wits, seemed to have to think about it but while his parents looked on his innocent face started to shine a smile, and he exclaimed: “Dad, when I am big, I want to be a real man who looks after the family, just like Mum!”
Yes, I laughed out loud when I heard this story first, and ironically it’s closer to the truth than a man would like to believe, at least in the country it is.
If only parents, if single or living in partnership, knowing all there is to know about raising children and had plenty of financial support to spend enough time.
The key role parents hold by raising the next generation is often underestimated and by far not regarded highly enough.
To my understanding us parents should, on the one hand, be obliged to receive some special education, finalized with a license for raising children, and on the other hand, financial rewards from society sufficient to allow for a healthy lifestyle and abundant time for children and partner.
