Five Finger Rule

Met son #1 for lunch yesterday during our visit with him in Nashville.  Don't get to see much of him so we treasure what few moments we can grab.

The spousal unit excused herself to go to the restroom.  While she was gone,  son #1 went in for a kill shot and asked me "so, when do you want a grand baby?".  I replied, "well, you and the girly friend have given me a "granddog named Henry", and that will do for now.  He then followed up with ”but when do I need to become a baby daddy?".  I looked at him for a minute, knowing he was in it for some shock value, and then I replied "let's not forget the Mr. Kevin five finger rule!"

When the spousal unit returned to the table, son #1 asked her the same question.  Guess what, she gave him the same answer.  Suddenly he was full of laughter because the joke was now on him because both parents were on the same page!

We discovered the "Mr. Kevin five finger rule" several years ago.  Our neighbor, Kevin, had a rule in place for his children to follow.  This rule was based on five fingers:

1.  Graduate from high school
2.  Get a college degree
3.  Get a good paying job
4.  Get married
5.  Grand children

Mr. Kevin has a son and a daughter that have both made it to stage fourth finger and are now working on number five.

Not sure what has happened along the way from the time I grew up.  If you happened to become involved in a pregnancy, you got married, then along comes the baby.

Nowadays, girls are having their babies outside the tradition of marriage.  Some eventually marry their partner, others never do.

Now, you have a huge generation of children being added to the pool of single parent families in addition to the ones from broken homes.

All this comes back to the set of values developed in each of us in our early years.  We tried as best we could to give our boys a set of standards to live by.  We were by no means perfect, least of all me.  We did it by example, and I hope that most of it stuck.

Please feel free to use and share Mr. Kevin's "five finger rule" with your kids and others!