Inspirational, Informative, and General Reading

Bill Cosby's Fifty Cents

In his book Fatherhood, Bill Cosby tells the following story:

Now that my father is a grandfather, he just can't wait to give money to my kids. But when I was his kid and I asked him for fifty cents, he would tell me the story of his life. How he got up at 5 A.M. when he was seven years old and walked twenty-three miles to milk ninety cows. And the farmer for whom he worked had no bucket, so he had to squirt the milk into his little hand and then walk eight miles to the nearest can. All for 5 cents a month. The result was that I never got my 50 cents.

But now he tells my children every time he comes into the house: "Well, let’ s see how much money old Granddad has got for his wonderful kids." And the minute they take money out of his hands I call them over to me and I snatch it away from them. Because that is MY money.

The other story that Cosby tells that I like is the difference between Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. He insists that Mother’s Day is a much bigger deal because Mothers are more organized. Mothers say to their children: Now here is a list of what I want. Go get the money from your father and you surprise me on Mothers Day. You do that for me.

For Father's Day I give each of my five kids $20 so that they can go out and by me a present--a total of $100. They go to the store and buy two packages of underwear, each of which costs $5 and contains three shorts. They tear them open and each kid wraps up one pair, the sixth going to the Salvation Army. Therefore, on Father's Day I am walking around with new underwear and my kid's are walking around with $90 worth of my change in their pockets.

Adapted from Fatherhood by Bill Cosby (Source: Brett Blair)

See Also:

When God Created Fathers
An amusing and inspirational story about fathers.

Father's Day: A Tribute
Today is Father's Day. A day of cologne. A day of hugs, new neckties, long-distance phone calls, and Hallmark cards.

I'll Always be There for You!
An inspirational story about a father and son.

History of Father's Day
The idea for creating a day for children to honor their fathers began in Spokane, Washington.