A man came home from work late, 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 
in an hour?" "That's none of your business! What makes you ask such a thing?" the man said angrily. "I just want to know. Please tell me, how much money do you make in an hour?" pleaded the little boy. "If you must know, I make $20.00 an hour."
"Oh," the little boy replied, head bowed down." Looking up, he asked, "Daddy, may I borrow $10.00, please?" The father was furious. "If the only reason you want to know how much money I make just so you can borrow some money to buy some 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 I 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 had calmed down, and started to think he may have been a little hard on his son. May be there was something he really needed to buy with that $10.00 and he really didn't ask for money very often. The man went to the door of 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 aggravation out on you. Here's that $10.00 you asked for."
The little boy sat 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 the man. "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 $20.00 now... Can I buy an hour of your time?"
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Now I know that this is one of those emails that you get, that you just like to get rid of. But I think that it is a great example of the best gift that we can give to our children and each other...TIME.
I know that in my household, my kids have an opinion that they won't ask dad for anything cause he won't have the time or the patience or the willingness to do it. Regardless of how often this message is rammed through his head, he always forgets.
BUT, if we just give our kids a little of our time, they appreciate it, they learn from it, and they love it. TIME is so much more precious than the expensive toy, or how many gifts under the tree. TIME can never be given again. TIME can mean so much.
So this Christmas, instead of running around, trying to get everything organised and everything done, and all the presents etc etc, give the gift of TIME.
Get up early with your kids, without complaining that it is too early (even if it is 4.00 am), enthuse over anything that has been left under the tree, sit and eat breakfast together and talk and share of yourselves.
Everyone have an enjoyable Christmas, in whichever way you spend it.
From Kwonza to Hannukah, Yule and Omisoka, I wish you all the best.
(December 2007) (
