It doesn’t require extensive research to know that many dads are lousy listeners. In fact, living with Dad is probably the only evidence one needs to prove that his mind and body often do not reside at the same address.
But cut him some slack. After all, he has the weight of the world on his mind. Breakfast. The weekend. Ball scores. Lunch. Drill bits. Tires. The remote. Dinner.
We’re busy with … stuff.
Is it any wonder that sometimes Dad doesn’t pick up on an important point directed his way about the tag still hanging from the back of his new trousers or the black smoke coming from the garage? We dads are busy. Our minds race from one thing to another – remembering whatever it was that Mom told us to pick up at the store after work to which of the guys is springing for the platter of “nuclear” buffalo wings and onion rings on Saturday. Talk about stress.
When Mom says to her children, “Don’t bother your father, he’s busy,” what she really wants to say is, “Don’t bother to tell Dad, he won’t hear you.”