I have lots of questions
I’m going to be open and honest with you about something that’s been going through my head. It stems from a conversation Ashley and I were having before bed.
As I was laying there, something dawned on me. I looked over at Ashley and said, “I have to be honest. Being a parent is not how I envisioned it.” She looked over at me and with the best British accent a country girl from Georgia could muster said, “You have no idea what you are talking about,” referencing a line from the bit comedian Michael McIntyre did on parenting.
(If you haven’t seen it, I will post a link to that video on my blog. But be prepared, you will probably pee on yourself.)
Now, this realization about my parenting delusions occurred as we were coming off a week-long, sick-house situation. It started with my daughter getting a cold. Now, she has an awesome immune system and was 100% in only two days. My oldest son, however, was still hugging the “lotion tissue box,” as we call it, on day six. Ashley and I barely felt it.
The baby, on the other hand, has been going for seven days now. And it went from a head cold with drainage to a double ear infection that was so bad I watched the pediatrician cringe when he saw it.
That’s bad.
On top of that, he is cutting five teeth. And I have to say, that boy is tough! He has had all of that going on and has still been able to smile some. But the smile has been hit or miss with all the crying and general discontentment. And that poor baby wasn’t sleeping unless he was on Mommy or Daddy’s chest.
So, for seven days, we haven’t been getting enough rest, we have had a crying baby who is getting into everything and has been stressing the whole house out.
At work, we have a house under contract to sell, and it has some repairs that we need to do before closing. We have a full-on rehab at a different flip property. We have a rental we are taking applications on, and I have been doing in-home interviews in the evenings. And we have another house we are buying tomorrow that I have been doing the paperwork on while I also coordinate the attorney and seller and line things up with my private lender.
As all this has been going on, we’ve been having another battle of our making at our house. You see, we have been allowing the kids to be on their devices too much — like way too much. It started while we were on our trip to Destin, and it spiraled out of control while everyone was sick.
And it’s so bad that most of what my kids talk about is a video game, what their friends did while playing the video game or the movie they’re watching about the video game. (Yeah, that’s a thing.)
To Ashley and me, this is a brain suck that is detrimental, and we have got to get in control of it.
As we’ve been battling this situation, I’ve questioned a lot of things. Am I giving my kids the things they need to be positive and have a good self image? What am I doing to teach them about fitness, food, health and wellbeing? How am I shaping their minds to cultivate the greatness that’s inside of them?
I know the kids know that Ashley and I love them. I know they know Yahweh loves them and that serving Him is our most important job. So, I feel like we are doing an adequate job in the spiritual and family realms. But am I giving them the tools, education, and connections they need to succeed in the other areas of life?
Another question I have is how I am doing teaching them about business, finances and how to use money correctly. You see, I don’t want to raise children who become entitled adults who mismanage money.
I was listening to a podcast recently where the host said you really only get 18 summers with your kids. That’s 18 summers to make an impact and make a difference. That puts things into perspective.
My oldest turns nine this month. That means I’m halfway through the 18 summers, and all these questions make me feel like I have some work to do. Right now, I am compiling a reading list of age-appropriate personal development books for him to read, and I’ll incentivize reading with a payment for each book he gets through. That should get us going, but I feel like I have a lot of work to do.
Joe and Ashley English buy houses and mobile homes in Northwest Georgia. For more information or to ask a question, go to www.cashflowwithjoe.com or call Joe at 678-986-6813.