Not now son!

We were all busy with something all the time. There were times when our children were very inquisitive, we just ignored their questions. 'Not now son!' was our best defense to shoo them away as they were disturbing us.

Do you know that at around age 4, children have a lot in their mind that they need answer or explanation?

That's why we were bombarded with a lot of questions from them. Some we can answer, while most of the time, we were just clueless. 

'Not now son!'

As they were growing up, they needed more from us. They came at the wrong time, they asked the wrong questions, they are just a nuisance. That much we believed in. We took their craving for attention for granted. Sometimes, even before they opened their mouth, we signaled them to just shut up or go away.

Before we realised it, our kids have grown up and they are teenagers. They spent more times outside as they look for escapism. In the outside world, they look for a father figure which we so blatantly failed. They were easily influenced by their peers as they know they can't get any guidance from us. They very much remember our tone when we said 'not now son!'

One find day, you suddenly decided to assume the role of a father when you realised that your grown up son needed some fatherly advice.

Son, I want to.....

'Not now dad!'