It was to be a picnic. The father, the mother and the two daughters got out of the car in the reservoir parking lot and walked towards a path leading to the lake.
The mother halted their progress to say something to the effect that they should not go down that path, that they should take a different path that was not muddy. The father stood firm and said, “No,” that they should walk down by the lake.
The two girls walked away from their father back to where their mother was standing and stood by her.
The discussion grew more spirited between the parents – hostile, and the man said, “You make me feel like I’m their uncle instead of their father.”
She looked him square in the eye and said, “If you don’t spend time with them, you won’t have a relationship of trust with them. They are standing by me because I am the one who is there for them all day every day.”
And he changed his life on a dime and started spending time with his children every day.