Ad Age columnist Lenore Skenazy [really?] says that since what Today's Dads want most is more time with their families, advertisers can sell them all kinds of stuff by promising convenience and time-savings. David Goldsmith, marketing consultant and father of two teenagers, 13 and 14, is a perfect example:
Goldsmith is always in the market for anything that gives him more family time, which brings us to his lawn care. Buying a nice, sit-down mower, Goldsmith learned, would cost $2,500 to $3,000. "I then went and priced what it would cost for someone else to mow my lawn and my break-even point was 5.5 years later," he said.So a guy not only doesn't buy something, he hires an amigo to mow his lawn, taking jobs away from two thoroughly qualified American teenagers? O'Reilly's gonna have a field day with this one.He hired a man to mow, "and I'm literally paying for my lawnmower with five years with my children," Goldsmith said. "If you want to take a Saturday and do lawn work, you've got several hours gone. I don't. I have basketball."
Dads Are the New Moms, so It's Time to Start Selling Them Stuff [adage via smith frenzy]
I DO want more time with my family, but not at the expense that everything has to be provided for me. C'mon - the only part about cutting my little bit of grass IS my son helping me cut it, but I'm fairly sure I'm in a small percentage of dads that have a kid who REALLY wants to do that with me.
I really think that if you don't want to have to cut a lot of grass, get a smaller yard for gosh darn sake! Or have one like mine that has moss on it which keeps the grass from growing enough to need to cut it :)
Seriously? And what is playing basketball teaching your children that helping you with yard work wouldn't? Teamwork? Competitiveness? That winning spirit? I guess yardwork isn't that much fun because you can't win, and that's what life is about, right? Or is it teaching them that they too can have a big yard and hire someone from the lower ends of the economic continuum to take care of it for them if they learn to crush the competition and make lots of money?
Personally, I went with the riding mower. My daughter is 16 months old and loves rides on the mower. She dances every time someone says Deere. I hope that she'll learn to do some yardwork and get her hands in the dirt instead of running about on the pavement.