oh, look!

More pointless anecdotes!

I got embroiled, to my shame, in an online argument about working parents today. (I think HVAC Guy telling me I need a new motor for the furnace temporarily destroyed my reason or something.) But, anyway, there was a story I wanted to tell in the midst of this argument, which somehow I restrained myself from. You guys get to hear it instead.

When I was in third or fourth grade, my dad would often pick me up from school and take me to the branch library, where we'd pick out books. Then he'd drop me home and go off to work. One of my snotty little classmates said to me one day, "You could go to the library yourself, you know. Your dad doesn't have to take you." And in perhaps my first proud moment of actually having a comeback when I needed it, rather than two hours later, I said, "My dad works 3-11. This is when I get to see him. Do you have a problem with that?" Okay, maybe I didn't say "do you have a problem with that?" but it was implied. She apologized. We later became quite good friends for several years.

The point of this anecdote in relationship to the online argument is that in my experience, people who want to spend time with their kids will, no matter if, when, or how much they work, and people who don't want to, won't.

Also, reading is fundamental.

Also, if you do stuff with your kids, when you're 81 they'll read your mail for you, cook you dinner, and not yell at you terribly often.

See, that wasn't a totally pointless anecdote after all.

xoxo