Children always enjoy the company of their dads more than that of their moms.
It is mainly because dads always come up with something entertaining, something out of the box, while moms are strict and restraining.
The internet is full of stories of dads doing with their children that they shouldn’t have done. Here’s some food for thought for the dads who are running out of creative babysitting ideas.
Michael Weber Jr., who’s an operating room nurse, had just been back from a 12-hour shift when he learned that his wife was going out for shopping and he had to babysit their kids.
Now that’s one hard job on its own, let alone after doing a 12 hours hospital duty. So, Michael came up with a brilliant idea. He decided to “pose” for his children so that they could draw him.
Speaking to Bored Panda, Michael said: “My wife and I have been together since middle school and we really love to have fun, are pretty laid back parents, and love having our four kids around.
“However, as any parent knows, life with kids—especially four—requires you to be pretty creative in getting any time to yourself. We’ve just recently relocated from the east coast away from our family support, so my wife and I are juggling many hats these days.”
Michael’s wife Monica had to go grocery shopping when Michael returned from his shift. They needed someone to babysit the four little guys and Michael, who was already half-sleeping, volunteered.
When Monica came back from her shopping trip, she witnessed a genius idea of keeping the little devils occupied.
She saw her husband sleeping on the couch while all the four kids were tasked to draw him on their sketchbooks. He had fixed a grand prize of a chocolate bar for the children.
“Before this, I worked in an inner-city pediatric hospital, and before that, the military, which really gives me perspective on how fragile life is,” Michael shed light on the division of labor they have when it comes to parenting.
“I really try to live every day to the fullest, which my wife will argue that I am always trying to be the fun parent, leaving her to be the disciplinary, but I have no regrets.”
Monica captured a picture of her sleeping husband as the children drew him on their sketchbooks and posted it on Facebook. The post has so far amassed around 30k reactions and 37k shares.
“My wife would kill me for saying I ‘babysit’ the kids,” said Michael. “When I parent our kids, I try to come up with fun and creative ways to get things done.
“I’m a hockey player and have always been competitive, so I think it’s fun to make everything a race, game, or contest, and watch the kids compete to see who’s the ‘best cleaner’, ‘can fall asleep the fastest’, ‘read the longest’, and quite honestly my kids will do darn near any chore or task for some candy.”
He added: “That’s how I got them to sit still and to do these drawings. I promised some candy to the kid with the most complete drawing.
“I also told them if they were loud or woke me up because they were fighting or complaining, I would move and they would have to start all over again. So, that kept them pretty committed. I’m a really light sleeper and they’re finally at an age I could get away with a stunt like this.”
Monica captioned her husband’s photo on Facebook, saying: “‘I’ll keep the kids so you can grocery shop in peace’… then I come home to this.
“I’m pretty sure he’s the most brilliant man I’ve ever known. He has them doing ‘realism art’ while he ‘poses’ AKA naps. The winner gets a chocolate, but let’s be honest, @michael.w.weberjr is the one winning lmao. Nice one Michael, nice one!”
Michael added: “I had no idea this would go viral. I honestly didn’t even know my wife posted it since I don’t really post on Facebook much.
“I had just come off a 12-hour overnight shift as an OR nurse. When I got home, the kids were being crazy and my wife was trying to get them to bundle up so she could go to the store for groceries. I could see she was stressed and told her to leave them with me while she ran down the road real quick.
“Then, I presented them with this idea and as soon as I said they could do art and win chocolate, they were all over it. It bought me a 20-minute nap while she was at the store.
The kids also liked the idea very much. In fact, they are up for another round to win more and more chocolate from their creative dad.
Replaced!