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“ Family First: Spending Quality Time With Your Children” As
Published in WAH Solutions Magazine 2006 Welcome
to the exciting world of Mister Mom’s home. Let me start by saying that I am a
single Work At Home Dad. I’ve been working from home for the last 3 years,
marketing my Healthcare business as well as building a profitable ebay® store,
so as you might imagine, my work takes up a lot of my time. (Not quite what I
had in mind when I began to work from my home.) I said to her, “ Elissa honey, daddy loves you very much. What makes you think I’ve been on the computer all day? I know exactly what’s going on honey. I was just waiting for you to get home from school, so we could spend some quality time together”. That’s when I realized I had a problem. She looked me in the eyes, put her hands on my shoulders, and said to me. “ Dad, today is Saturday”. Those words were the voice of reason, and I knew I had to make some changes. Today my children always come first, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’ve learned to make time for my work around the time I reserve for my children, and that my children’s time is available to them whenever they need they need me. It’s amazing what these changes have done for my health as well. I haven’t heard those voices in my head for months. Whoops, here come my girls, I better get off the computer. Thanks for stopping by “ Mister Mom’s Home”.
By: Jay Bartels As
Published in WAH Solutions Magazine 2006 “Daddy,
its time we talk Profit Sharing” I
was sitting at my computer, just minding my own business and working on my
latest work at home business, when I sensed someone behind me looking over my
shoulders. I turned to see Elissa, my nine year old staring very intently at the
numbers on my monitor. I’m not sure what it was that captured her attention
but I believe it had something to do with the dollar signs in front of them.
“Okay Elissa, is there something I can help you with”, I said to her
smiling. She smiled back and I could tell by the look in her eyes that she was
brainstorming about something. “Dad, you said that the three of us were a team
right?” “Yes honey, we are a team and that’s why we all work together as a
team around the house”, I replied, still wondering where she was going with
this. “Well every time we ask you why you spend so much time on the computer
working on your business, you always say that it’s not just your business, but
our business too? You even call it Mister Mom’s Home and post our pictures and
tell stories about us. I mean, if it wasn’t for us there wouldn’t even be a
Mister Mom. Right?” Okay, what’s this all about? Where is she going with
this? I mean she’s nine years old, is this just some tactic to get her
allowance raised? I had no idea how much I was under estimating her! “Dad”,
she said, “Look me in the eye and give me your undivided attention for just
one minute”. Oh my God, she is too cute. ‘Undivided attention’, where did
she come up with those big words? But cute went out the window real fast when
she looked at me so serious and said to me “ Faith and I have been talking and
we feel that you are not treating us like real partners. If this is a family
business like you say it is, then we feel that it’s only fair that we are
entitled to Profit Sharing.” Did she just say ‘entitled’? Wait a minute;
did she say ‘profit sharing’? Where in the world would a nine year old come
up with that? I’m guessing from her twelve year old sister and partner in this
uprising. They had actually started a union. They had 2 seats on the board of
trustees and I was in the midst of a hostile takeover. Man was I proud of them!
After spending some time at the negotiating table over dinner, we finally came
to an agreement that I believe was more than fair. We agreed after much heated
debate, that I would retain full control of the company and in return I agreed
not to take all their toys away and I also promised to take the gags and
blindfolds off of them. What a beautiful thing to have a family that works as a
team and live under the roof of democracy. In other words “because I’m your
father, that’s why! In all seriousness, I love my kids. They’re just not
putting their sweet little hands in daddy’s cookie jar. Until next time,
Mister Mom By: Jay Bartels
As Published in WAH Solutions Magazine 2006 “I
love You; Now Go Back To School” It
felt great to finally spend some quality time with my girls, but by the 4th
day, quality time had now become quantity time and I was ready for my little
angels to return to their real home, the place that We single parents
affectionately refer to as SCHOOL. How long did they actually expect us to watch
these kids for? On the 5th day I began to make daily trips by their
schools just to make sure that there hadn’t been a mistake made and not told
us the school was actually open. No luck! By
the 6th day things became even more unbearable. The other children in
the neighborhood had now made my house their Holiday headquarters. I can’t
prove it, but I know beyond a shadow of a doubt this was nothing less than a
full blown conspiracy, brilliantly organized by a group of single work at home
moms who were looking for a patsy to watch their kids too, and boy did they find
the right guy. On
the 7th day I rested. When I finished resting I opened my bedroom
door to the sweet sound of children playing. I realized I needed more rest, so
back to my hide out I went. On the 8th day I woke my kids up early
and made them dress for school. They insisted and they resisted, but they
finally came peacefully. They stopped all their fussing like the good little
angels they are. As soon as we made it to the bus stop, I untied them and took
the gags out of their mouths. We waited for a short time for the school bus to
come. On the 9th day we returned home from the bus stop. The New Year came and I decided to enjoy the weekend with my children. In spite of all my whining, I realized that I only had 3 days left to spend some good quality time with the most precious blessings in my life. It occurred to me that I could have the best of both worlds. I set everything else aside and decided to turn every bit of quantity time into a world of quality time. It was the perfect opportunity to make some unforgettable family memories, and for 3 days that’s just what we did. It’s such a great blessing to know how blessed we truly are. Thanks for stopping by “ Mister Mom’s Home”.
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