Choosing your kids is never the wrong decision

We had a decision to make the other night that tested all of us.

My wife and I had plans to see the famous King Kong on Broadway show. The NYC Dads Group was hooking us up and we needed a date night anyway. If you don’t have them, you’re missing out, read this HERE.

We were finally going to have alone time, planned dinner, and knew that after the show, the creators had something special for us. Some sort of Q&A with the cast and more.

I was so ready for this and then my son came home with a letter from his school. He was being honored as the Student of the Month in Math.

Let The Decisions Begin

As he pulled out his letter, he said, “dad don’t you have that show with mom tomorrow night?”

I nodded and didn’t expect what he had to say next.

He said, “well I got these before so you can send me with grandma while you go to see King Kong.”

My son is a slick one and I knew his mouth was about to test my fatherhood. He proceeded with, “I guess you have to decide which one is more important to you.”

Kids play dirty, he knew exactly what he was doing. How do I know? I raised him.

This time around, this decision was a no brainer.

My dad missed all those special moments that mattered to me, I was never missing one that featured my kids.

The decision was made and luckily for me, my friend Chad MacDonald of the city dads group could take my place. I felt bad I couldn’t fulfill my obligation to the organization, but my son means way more to me.

Date night was over but the real fun was happening at his school. We push our son to overachieve in school, not being there to celebrate this win would be the stupidest thing to do.

Motivational support by way of being there is way stronger than saying you are proud.

There’s always next time

This by far has to be the easiest and most used excuse in the book. I know it because I have used it plenty of times. Especially when we have to wake up at 9 am to do a Home Depot kids workshop but I learned to stop breaking promises. Even the small one’s matter.

My son goes to a very good school and he is a brainiac, but so are all the other kids in his school. Being able to rank at the top of his school isn’t easy, missing that moment to show him how proud we were of that wasn’t even an option.

To be honest, there might never be a next time. Nothing in life is guaranteed and that’s how I treat events that my kids are part of. Shit, a car can take us out any moment.

I could have found a million excuses to miss our son’s ceremony but only needed one to make the right decision.

That excuse was seeing him smile as they called his name! I made the right one.

Choosing your kids is never the wrong decision. Make your presence felt.