Importance Of Spending Quality Time With Family

When a woman came home from work late, tired and irritated; to find her 5-year old son waiting for her at the door, and her son asked, “Mummy, may I ask you a question?” The mother replied, “Yeah sure, what is it?” And the son asked, “Mummy, how much do you make an hour?” But the mother said angrily, “That's none of your business! Why do you ask such a thing?” And the son said, “I just want to know! Please tell me!! How much do you make an hour?” Then the mother replied, “If you must know, I make $20 an hour.” The son just said, “Oh,” but with his head down, he asked, “Mummy, may I please borrow $5?”

The mother was furious, “If the only reason you asked that is so you can borrow some money to buy a silly toy or some other nonsense, then you march yourself straight to your room and go to bed, and think about why you are being so selfish. I don't work ever so hard every day for such childish frivolities.” The son quietly went to his room and shut the door. The mother then sat down and started to get even angrier about her son's questions. How dare he ask such questions only to get some money? After about an hour or so, when the mother had calmed down, and started to think, “Maybe there was something he really needed to buy with that $5 and he really didn't ask for money very often.”

So she went to the door of her son's room, opened it and asked, “Son, are you asleep?” And her son answered, “No, Mummy! I'm awake!!” And the mother said, “Son, I've been thinking. Maybe I was too hard on you earlier. It's been a long day and I took out my aggravation on you. Here's the $5 you asked for.” The son immediately sat straight up, smiling and yelled, “Oh, thank you Mummy!” He then reached under his pillow, and pulled out some crumpled up bills. And when the mother saw that her son already had some money, she started to get angry again. The boy slowly counted out his money, and then looked up at his mother.

Then the mother grumbled, “Why do you want more money if you already have some?” And the boy replied, “Because I didn't have enough, but now I do. Mummy, I have $20 now. Can I buy an hour of your time? Please come home early tomorrow. I would like to have dinner with you.” The mother was crushed. She put her arms around her son, and begged, “Son, please forgive me! I have been working so hard without realising time slipping through my fingers, and without having spent some quality time with you and those who really matter to me. I forgot to appreciate that if I die tomorrow, the company that I am working for could easily replace me in a matter of hours. But you my son, my family and friends will feel the loss for ever,”