Pathetic Display of Parenting!!

[Fishndude]

Earlier this morning, I went to get my hair cut. While waiting, a young(35ish) dad came in with a ten(ish) year old boy about a 4 year old girl. The boy went to the chair for his haircut. The girl sat to play at the little play area they have set up with legos and etc. The girl would play for about a minute , building and being creative. She would say, “look daddy” and daddy would just stare blankly into his phone, never speaking or acknowledging her existence. This happened repeatedly until I couldn’t take it any more. I finally said to the girl, “you’re doing great, I’m not too busy on my phone to admire your work.” I figured at that point, either I was gonna get my *** kicked or I was gonna make a point. Well, dad chose the latter and put his phone down and never looked at it again.

Ya, it’s none of my business, but every time I heard that little girl say, “daddy”, it made me think of my child and how I’d give any amount of blood, sweat, money or tears to hear her call out to me again for ten seconds of my time. It was pathetic, and the gof in me just spoke out.

[arrowsmack324]

I would have done the same, some people have no clue.

[bow4my2]

Earlier this morning, I went to get my hair cut. While waiting, a young(35ish) dad came in with a ten(ish) year old boy about a 4 year old girl. The boy went to the chair for his haircut. The girl sat to play at the little play area they have set up with legos and etc. The girl would play for about a minute , building and being creative. She would say, “look daddy” and daddy would just stare blankly into his phone, never speaking or acknowledging her existence. This happened repeatedly until I couldn’t take it any more. I finally said to the girl, “you’re doing great, I’m not too busy on my phone to admire your work.” I figured at that point, either I was gonna get my *** kicked or I was gonna make a point. Well, dad chose the latter and put his phone down and never looked at it again.

Ya, it’s none of my business, but every time I heard that little girl say, “daddy”, it made me think of my child and how I’d give any amount of blood, sweat, money or tears to hear her call out to me again for ten seconds of my time. It was pathetic, and the gof in me just spoke out.

Good on you and I’m sure that was tough. Glad you didn’t get your butt kicked.

[BigCohiba]

Unfortunately for many - it’s only when you get older how much you realize just how valuable the time spent with your young children was. I consider myself a solid father but will also admit I wish I would have paid a lot more attention to my kids while they were growing up.

[Goldeneagle]

It's sad nowadays. My granddaughters friends love coming over to our house. It's all because I will do things with them ( and usually get in trouble ). I've heard many times one of them say they wish their dad would do things with them. Breaks my heart.

[curtintex]

Few know better than you, Jeff, how precious each and every moment really is. I'm glad you pointed it out to him.

[TexasAg2002]

Well done sir

[ChickenWilly]

Sadly that does seem to be a normal thing now. I'm only 32 but I spend all the time I can with my little girl (5yrs) she has her own little kayak and we go fish pretty regular not to mention if I go to the deer lease without her I get my butt chewed out haha she is always wanting to help me do everything and I never tell her no if she wants to learn how to do something. She actually helped her momma put some shelves together the other day when her momma was having some trouble. She told her here mom I will show you. I do this stuff with daddy haha

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[myway]

People take a lot of things for granted. Obviously you made him think about it so good on you. You and others have made me try to soak up the little things. It goes fast and wish I would have started sooner.

[CastAndBlast]

Strong work Jeff!

I by no means am a perfect parent and I am learning every day how to be the best parent possible, but it makes me sad to see so those situations.

After a scare with my son a while back, I try my best to never take a single minute for granted. I have learned that you can never hit the rewind button on life.

Hopefully, that Dad will change his priorities, and we all could use that reminder from time to time.

[topwater blowup]

Amen brother... Children are a blessing I would have done the same thing. Congrats Sir!

[tdwinklr]

No, I don't care for all these cell phones and their use now days either but its part of it and disgusting at times in seeing people abuse them. Yes, the guy should've at least acknowledged her occasionally but we just don't always know what people are going through or putting up with at the time. All parents are different, even different at certain times, the guy may be a great dad at home ... we just never know.
Have 2 boys of my own and they are grown now, I tried to always spend quality time with them and like all of us, failed at times. Oh for the times we could go back and correct the failures though.
I wouldn't judge too harshly here.

[Texas Grown]

My brother's keeper.

[dcbrown]

On point, Jeff. A lot of us would give anything to be able to back in time for just a little while.

[boh347]

My wife and I were have this same conversation about an hour ago, I told her we were hypocrites for telling our children to get off their gaming devices and then we immediately look at our phones. She said life was so much better without them.
They’re very addicting, we look into our phones and it’s like a escape from reality.
We opted to get a lock box to put all of our devices into in the evenings and spend some quality family time together.