Fathers Day

I was deep in conversation recently with a very successful retiree about his experiences as a father. The banter was light until it was time to part ways at which point he grabbed my arm and hastened me to listen carefully.

“Be sure that you love your children equally!” he said with an unsettling eeriness in his voice not unlike a line spoken in a disaster movie moments before all hell breaks lose.

“I have two sons”, he continued, “One of them has always been motivated, successful and talented and has never relied on my wealth to survive, while the other has always been lazy, unsuccessful and forever in trouble. Instead of rewarding my successful son for all that he’s achieved, I’ve spent my life chasing after the other son, bailing him out time and time again. I hardly know my boys now. The son that I’ve always protected only talks to me when he needs something and because throughout his life he’s needed so much attention, I never had time to get to know my other boy. I’ve been left virtually with nothing!”

Continue reading "How to be a good parent at 100 miles an hour" »

Fathers Day - or in our house Feathrs or Farthers day depending upon the cards I received last year - is nearly upon the kids. Last year I got lots of cards - approximately 8 by my count. I don’t have that many children nor did I discover I had some I didn’t know about. Instead my known children were extremely productive; to the tune of 2.67 cards per child. What is more, they were all self-made.

We now have a rule at home that Hallmark holidays should mean that no money should be spent that would go anywhere near Hallmark. That means everything is made.

Not only did I get the cards but several paintings and a treasure hunt. The last one was imaginative but, ultimately fast, because my then 6 year old son organised the whole thing but didn’t have the patience to wait for me to decipher his clues and took me straight to the treasure.

Continue reading "Don’t buy my book for Fathers Day" »

In the run up to Father’s Day the electrical stores are spruiking like it’s Christmas. You can be sure that along with any of the hot deals from digital cameras to TVs will come one innocent –sounding question.

At the very point of sale when you’re about to hand over the cash for dad’s gift you’ll be asked “Would you like an extended warranty with that?”

It sounds simple enough. An few extra years’ “protection” for a hundred bucks or so, depending on the price of the item.

Continue reading "Are we being served? The rort of extended warranties" »