| Less is
more. . .and more! |
By David Perdew |
|
In my younger days, my checkbook became my happiness
meter.
If my balance was high, I was floating on cloud nine.
If the balance was low, I was so low I could walk
under
a snake's belly.
And of course, the reason was that I couldn't
"make do"
as my mother said with what I had. I wanted more. I
thought "more" was the way to live. Have
more, get
more, show-off more, and waste more. Living like that
means you never have enough. Never having enough means
you're never content. And being content, my friend,
now
that's happiness.
An investigative journalist wrote a book called
"The
Paradox Progress: How Life Gets Better While People
Feel Worse." (http://tinyurl.com/b3dzw)
He was
intrigued by the spectacular rise in per capita
earning
power since 1950 - it's has tripled. Yet people are no
happier. His conclusion (am I'm paraphrasing) is that
money can't buy love, respect, family honor, or a
sense
that our work has meaning.
Those are the things that make us most happy in life.
I'll repeat that one more time. . .and slowly:
* love
* respect
* family honor
* a sense that our work has meaning
Those things make us happy.
What's missing? MORE! The pursuit of more is nowhere
on
that list.
Back to transforming from a Bad Dad to a Good Dad.
What
do your kids want? Seldom do they come to us and ask
for more toys, more money, more house, more cars -
unless we train them to want more.
Remember back in the simple days when the toddler
played with boxes and pots and the cat's
tail...anything that piqued her curiosity.
Then we bought the Nintendo, the 10-Speed, the Barbie
Penthouse and we're off to the races. We trained those
kids to always want more. America is a
"more" society.
Our economy is based on the fact that we want more.
That's why Wal-Mart is the biggest company in America.
It has more.
But our happiness is based on being content.
Demonstrate that to your kids. Okay, you can get more
AND be content with it. But more can't become all
consuming.
The result of living with and for less is that you
have
time to give more of yourself to your kids. They may
not say it now, but the less you give, the more they
will demand. And sometimes, it will be in very
unpleasant ways.
In my Special Report on Absentee Dads, these
statistics
stood out:
Children from a fatherless home are:
* Five times more likely to commit suicide
* Thirty-two times more likely to run away
* Twenty times more likely to have behavioral
disorders
* Fourteen times more likely to commit rape (this
applies to boys)
* Nine times more likely to drop out of high school
* Ten times more likely to abuse chemical substances
* Nine times more likely to end up in a state-operated
or charitable institution
* Twenty times more likely to end up in prison for a
long period of time
Fatherless homes are defined technically as homes
where
the father has no contact with the child. In reality,
many of today's children live in near-fatherless homes
when Dad shows up on Sunday for a drive-by visit.
Those kids who are five times more likely to commit
suicide or thirty-two times more likely to runaway
want
more of one thing - YOU!
Pay now or pay later. And when you pay later, it
always
costs. . .more!
Sincerely,
David Perdew
*****************************************************
PS: If you have experiences or ideas you'd like to
contribute, forward them to me at support@bad-dad.com
and I'll include them in future publications. Or voice
your comments at http://www.WorldWantingPeace.com |
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