HONEST Answer guys and gals

[MorganGrayson]

Ryan...you got some great advice here from parents. Don't fall into the typical parental mistake: thinking your child needs "things." (Children need food, shelter, medical care and educational supplies...the rest are "wants." One of the best gifts you can give your child is a grasp of the difference between a "want" and a "need.")

No kid *needs* two new toys a week. All you're going to do if you do that is create a greedy kid with a sense of entitlement. (Unless you're buying books. That's different.)

Kids want *time.* They want attention. Some of the best times I ever spent with my Dad was in the garage, sitting on the concrete, playing the "hand me the 5/8" wrench next, please" game while most of him was underneath the car. I hammered a lot of nails into scrap lumber. (My mother nearly killed him when his casual remark sent me into the house asking for the container of "elbow grease" to soften my very own baseball glove.)

Our own kids spent a lot of similiar time. When one finally bought her own car, she was equipped to deal with it after the hours she logged in the driveway with her Dad. We couldn't afford shit when they were growing up, but by hell, those kids can cope with life. They didn't get "things," but they got "time."

And to answer the original question, off and on for...geeze, looking back, it was probably only a couple of years. Seemed longer. That whole period is so lost in the mists of time....

[Biggy]

Originally Posted by MorganGrayson

Ryan...you got some great advice here from parents. Don't fall into the typical parental mistake: thinking your child needs "things." (Children need food, shelter, medical care and educational supplies...the rest are "wants." One of the best gifts you can give your child is a grasp of the difference between a "want" and a "need.")

No kid *needs* two new toys a week. All you're going to do if you do that is create a greedy kid with a sense of entitlement. (Unless you're buying books. That's different.)

Kids want *time.* They want attention. Some of the best times I ever spent with my Dad was in the garage, sitting on the concrete, playing the "hand me the 5/8" wrench next, please" game while most of him was underneath the car. I hammered a lot of nails into scrap lumber. (My mother nearly killed him when his casual remark sent me into the house asking for the container of "elbow grease" to soften my very own baseball glove.)

Our own kids spent a lot of similiar time. When one finally bought her own car, she was equipped to deal with it after the hours she logged in the driveway with her Dad. We couldn't afford shit when they were growing up, but by hell, those kids can cope with life. They didn't get "things," but they got "time."

And to answer the original question, off and on for...geeze, looking back, it was probably only a couple of years. Seemed longer. That whole period is so lost in the mists of time....

going back to the things topic of toys and such..

as a male in the mid-20s, i look back at my father, and the most precious childhood memories of him never ever were about when he gave me something. the one thing that sticks out in my mind wall all the sports teams he coached of mine growing up, or every weekend driving me around to games and always watching and truly wanting to be there and see me succeed. he did it for years and years, and sacrificed his weekends to spend with both my sister and I. its the things that cannot be bought that you remember.

[Nickatilynx]

Originally Posted by Biggy

going back to the things topic of toys and such..

as a male in the mid-20s, i look back at my father, and the most precious childhood memories of him never ever were about when he gave me something. the one thing that sticks out in my mind wall all the sports teams he coached of mine growing up, or every weekend driving me around to games and always watching and truly wanting to be there and see me succeed. he did it for years and years, and sacrificed his weekends to spend with both my sister and I. its the things that cannot be bought that you remember.

You should show him that post

Any dick can father a child , takes a man to be a Dad.

He was a man.

Me? I hate kids LOL , but I spend a lot of time with mine to annoy them ;-)))

[MorganGrayson]

Originally Posted by Nickatilynx

You should show him that post

Any dick can father a child , takes a man to be a Dad.

He was a man.

Me? I hate kids LOL , but I spend a lot of time with mine to annoy them ;-)))

Yeah, right...on the last line.

But total on the "Dad" line.

The first time I heard my husband say "I love you, too" to my oldest daughter on the phone I had to go cry in the bathroom.
(Long story, not for today.)
She may have a shitfuck biological, but she's finally got a "Dad."

[Sin]

Originally Posted by MorganGrayson

Ryan...you got some great advice here from parents. Don't fall into the typical parental mistake: thinking your child needs "things." (Children need food, shelter, medical care and educational supplies...the rest are "wants." One of the best gifts you can give your child is a grasp of the difference between a "want" and a "need.")

No kid *needs* two new toys a week. All you're going to do if you do that is create a greedy kid with a sense of entitlement. (Unless you're buying books. That's different.)

Kids want *time.* They want attention. Some of the best times I ever spent with my Dad was in the garage, sitting on the concrete, playing the "hand me the 5/8" wrench next, please" game while most of him was underneath the car. I hammered a lot of nails into scrap lumber. (My mother nearly killed him when his casual remark sent me into the house asking for the container of "elbow grease" to soften my very own baseball glove.)

Our own kids spent a lot of similiar time. When one finally bought her own car, she was equipped to deal with it after the hours she logged in the driveway with her Dad. We couldn't afford shit when they were growing up, but by hell, those kids can cope with life. They didn't get "things," but they got "time."

And to answer the original question, off and on for...geeze, looking back, it was probably only a couple of years. Seemed longer. That whole period is so lost in the mists of time....

Oh wow your post makes me nostalgic, my dad was a field mechanic for logging machinery so while he was away from home some of the time (once we were all older) I still do recall many many hours spent with him in the shop (which is larger than my parents house) working on my mom's car & stuff, just hanging out... I loved it!

I never had the typical "popular" toys and I am grateful my parents never budged & gave in or let me throw fits or anything...

In the end, toys end up being given away, lost, broken... but memories of time spent with parents lasts forever.

[MorganGrayson]

Originally Posted by Sin

Oh wow your post makes me nostalgic, my dad was a field mechanic for logging machinery so while he was away from home some of the time (once we were all older) I still do recall many many hours spent with him in the shop (which is larger than my parents house) working on my mom's car & stuff, just hanging out... I loved it!

I never had the typical "popular" toys and I am grateful my parents never budged & gave in or let me throw fits or anything...

In the end, toys end up being given away, lost, broken... but memories of time spent with parents lasts forever.

I deeply regret that I never told my father how instrumental he was in making me what I am today. He never treated me differently because I was a girl. He wanted his first to be a boy, of course, being the combat boot wearing traditionalist that he was, but he didn't reject me because I was a girl. In a way, he sort of neutered me. I remember being introduced to other combat boot wearing guys as "my kid." Always said proudly. I helped with the car; with the building he did; played catch with him in the back yard (That would have gone better if I had any depth perception, which I don't. Keeping "my eye on the ball" didn't work for me.) When my Mom finally redeemed her mountain of green stamps, I wanted a chemistry set. My Mom fussed and attempted to point me toward "girl stuff." I remember my father growling at her "if the kid wants a chemistry set...get the kid a chemistry set!" He helped me with it and we did a bunch of experiments. Never blew anything up, though....

[Osiris]

Originally Posted by MorganGrayson

Ryan...you got some great advice here from parents. Don't fall into the typical parental mistake: thinking your child needs "things." (Children need food, shelter, medical care and educational supplies...the rest are "wants." One of the best gifts you can give your child is a grasp of the difference between a "want" and a "need.")

No kid *needs* two new toys a week. All you're going to do if you do that is create a greedy kid with a sense of entitlement. (Unless you're buying books. That's different.)

Kids want *time.* They want attention. Some of the best times I ever spent with my Dad was in the garage, sitting on the concrete, playing the "hand me the 5/8" wrench next, please" game while most of him was underneath the car. I hammered a lot of nails into scrap lumber. (My mother nearly killed him when his casual remark sent me into the house asking for the container of "elbow grease" to soften my very own baseball glove.)

Our own kids spent a lot of similiar time. When one finally bought her own car, she was equipped to deal with it after the hours she logged in the driveway with her Dad. We couldn't afford shit when they were growing up, but by hell, those kids can cope with life. They didn't get "things," but they got "time."

And to answer the original question, off and on for...geeze, looking back, it was probably only a couple of years. Seemed longer. That whole period is so lost in the mists of time....

What's left for me to say now?

[MorganGrayson]

Originally Posted by Osiris

What's left for me to say now?

Thanks, Osiris.


(Is there a better "smooche" smilie out there somewhere? I don't like this one and I keep coming close to clicking the other one that starts out with this kind of face...but is *not* the message I want to send!)