Begging for Quality Time

A man came home from work late, tired and irritated, to find his 5-year old son waiting for him at the door.

‘Daddy, may I ask you a question?’ asked the little boy.

‘Yeah sure, what it is?’ replied the man.

‘Daddy, how much do you make an hour?’

‘That’s none of your business. Why do you ask such a thing?’ the man said angrily.

‘I just want to know. Please tell me, how much do you make an hour?’

‘If you must know, I make $50 an hour.’

‘Oh,’ the little boy replied, with his head down.

‘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 - perhaps there was something he really needed to buy with that $25.00. After all, the boy really didn’t ask for money very often The man went to 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, seeing 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.

The modern life is such a rush-rush state of affairs that, often, we fail to spend any semblance of quality time with our loved ones. Sadly, we perhaps place a lot more emphasis on money-related activities - making money, or saving money - at the expense of those we love.

This is a heart-tugging story of a little boy who just yearns to spend a little more time with the dad he loves. While most of us may not be quite so harsh on a small kid, may this story still serve as a reminder to us.