Give time for your family story

A man came home from work late again, tired and irritated, to find his 5-year-old son waiting for him at the door. "Daddy, may I ask you a question?"

"Yeah, sure. What is it?" replied the man.

"Daddy, how much money do you make an hour?"

"That's none of you business! What makes you ask such a thing?" the man said angrily.

"I just wanted to know. Please tell me, how much do you make an hour?" pleaded the little boy.

"If you must know, I make $20 an hour."

The little boy looked up at his father and he said, "Daddy, may I borrow $9 please?"

The father was furious. "If the only reason you wanted to know how much money I make is just so you can borrow some to buy a silly toy or some other nonsense, then you march yourself straight to your room and go to bed. Think about why you're being so selfish. I work long, hard hours everyday and don't have time for such childish games."

The little boy quietly went to his room and shut the door. The man sat down and started to get even madder about the little boy's questioning. How dare he ask such questions only to get some money?

After an hour or so, the man calmed down. He started to think he might
have been a little hard on his son. Maybe there was something he really needed to buy with that $9 and he didn't ask for money very often. The man went to the little boy's room and opened the door. "Are you asleep son?" he asked.

"No daddy, I'm awake," replied the boy.

"I've been thinking, maybe I was too hard on you earlier," said the man, "It's been a long day and I took my aggravations out on you. Here's that $9 you asked for."

The little boy straight up, beaming. "Oh, thank you daddy!" he yelled.

Then, reaching under his pillow, he pulled out some more crumpled up bills. The man, seeing that the boy already had money, started to get angry again. The little boy slowly counted out his money, then looked up at his dad.

"Why did you want more money if you already had some?" the father grumbled.

"Because I didn't have enough, but now I do," the little boy replied. "Daddy, I have $20 now. Can you play with me for an hour?"

~ Author Unknown

This reminds me of the Harry Chapin song 'Cats in the Cradle', commonly mistaken for a Cat Stevens's song.