Having raised two girls, now 28 and 31, I look back on how I did?
There are so many areas I could have done better, but one place I did fairly well was being available. I have asked my daughters as adults to be very candid about places I excelled and others places where I dropped the ball. We're not discussing where I dropped the ball today, haha.
Both girls confirm now that my availability to them was huge. Being an entrepreneur often times required long hours and sometimes many hours away from the home. One rule I strongly enforced with all my employees was, "if one of my girls call, I'm available". One employee took a message once and I considered firing him, I didn't.
The way I look at it is what could possibly be more important than my children? Jobs, meetings and other task are all important, but my goodness, they are my children. If you want to know the truth, I honestly feel that you would gain more respect from the one you are with while being interrupted than you would if you neglected your own child. Now hear me out on this. If your child is constantly being disrespectful or taking advantage of this privilege, now we might just have another problem. I suggest a trip to the woodshed would cure this problem! I'm not going to sit and discuss with my child whatever their issue is over the phone, I'll call them back, but I'm going to take their call. We will have a family meeting and discuss what's allowable or not, but I want my children to always know, I'm here for them. If they don't feel the freedom and safety to call their dad, who can they have confidence in? If you want your child to have total trust in you, make yourself available, always.
A word of caution! If you place your colleagues, clients and customers ahead of your children, you will come home one day and discover they have put their confidence and trust in someone other than you.
Your phone is ringing.......
Live on purpose,
Aaron
