A juggling technophile shares personal stories, challenges, humor and perhaps some political commentary.
Evan asks: "Is there a mama?"
Dad: "Mama is asleep."
Evan furrows brow and almost growls: "Oooh Man. I want to go {grabbled}. Noah."
The interesting thing about Evan’s speech right now is that it is clear he gets his thought together but sometimes it takes a bit to get out. Noah is often "No" pause "ah"
I want to be building forts, playing games, and laughing with the children today. My brain isn’t working at full capacity today. But I remain focused on my work because before I can play with my children, I must provide for them.
Parents are obliged to provide food, shelter, clothing, medical care, education, and spiritual development for their children. Theoretically, each of those should have equal importance. In reality, they have to be prioritized based on the situation at the time. Single parents amaze me. I do not know I would manage a family without Cathy! That is not entirely true. If I were a single parent, I would build a support system around myself of friends, family and services. As a matter of fact, we have such a support system already. I imagine that as a single parent I would have to use that support system a little heavier.
It is difficult to meet any of those obligations without money. Unfortunately, the amount of money you make/have is rather proportional to the quality of care you can provide your children. That is not to imply that a poor person is a bad parent or cannot give their child a quality education; however, a greater amount of money makes it easier to provide quality services. For instance, food choices are often governed by making ends meet. The quality of services you receive at the doctor’s office can be determined by your insurance carrier. I have observed people on TennCare having longer waits than people on private insurance. Those on TennCare may get interns while those with private insurance get the nurses and doctors. Money definitely impacts the quality of shelter which can be provided. Quality clothing can be had from consignment stores, hand me downs, and sales; however, money may determine how often clothing is purchased. Even spiritual development can be impaired by money problems since time to give spiritual guidance has to be allocated to earning money.
Whoops. This post was supposed to be about how much I love my children. Didn’t mean to slip into "I want to see poverty abolished" (even if I do).
The Internet not only makes our world smaller, but it keeps our minds sharp. I enjoy videos like the one below from Deek. Deek’s video was inspired by my use of the non-sense word "obligated" rather than "obliged."
The evening here is pretty typical. The boys are locked in a 9×11 foot room having a pooting contest. It’s eye watering in there! The youngest two are tearing a room to shreds as my wife cleans a different room and hollers threats to the older children that they should be cleaning. The teenage girl hides in the open and pretends not to hear. I am downstairs cursing at my computer because I can’t type faster. The usual.
For those who do not work outside, you may like to know that it is ridiculously cold! Wait a minute… I don’t work outside. Brrrr.
