Today (Sat 3 Oct 2020) my wife asked me to come back from office earlier to bring my son for a jog. I told her

• I would need to cancel my afternoon jog at office
• it’s good if he cooperates. We can both exercise together.
• if he resists (as has happened) then I would have sacrificed my jogging for nothing

Here lies a decisive difference between me and other parents — attitude on parents’ spare time. I feel the coblood, the O2….

The media suggests that many parents (mostly mothers) of pre-teens spend half their weekends taking their kids to places hoping to expose them to in-situ learning. Some parents (presumably fathers) also spend time playing e-games with kids — family activity. In my q3SG phase, I was brainwashed to follow some of these suggestions. I forgot I’m a different parent with my own priorities and limitations.

• One of the key differences — My spare time is so precious to me.
  • Many of These parents have lots of spare time that they spend on e-entertainments (gaming, internet surfing, online chatting) dining out, socializing. I’m completely different.
  • The t-cost of weekend TO me is 5 times higher than the cost TO them.
  • For some of these mothers (media’s target audience), definition of a successful life lies in their children (DeepakCM). Unlikely me, these mothers don’t mind a mediocre career, lower income, suboptimal wellness, poor cash flow Control, lackluster/unspectacular investments, lack of retirement plan.
  • difference: distraction — I tend to get distracted (even irratated) by kids when I stay at home, so my time is partly wasted.
• difference: ROTI — these parents’ effort possibly paid off more than in my son. I tried renzi, math, cycling with him.
• difference: materialistic — grandpa pointed out that many China parents spend a lot of time WITH the kids in order to help them grow a marketable skill, which helps them secure more education resources. My wife might be like them. I’m not so fixated.
• difference: target audience — the media tend to assume target reader is a busy parent who spends too little time with kids. I’m not one of them. Grandpa said many China parents work in other cities.

— continuous feedback .. I asked my wife many times whether I spend too much time away from home. I wanted to hear specific “helps” I could provide at home. So far, she didn’t give anything specific. Look at the opening example.