First Steps to Solvency

SanguineGina

/\/\/\ That 100%!
And that one odd fish shaped fish cake that was bothering you earlier, serve it up and turn it into a 'name the strange creature fishcake'  game with your son☺  Just be there with him, alt.

amanda_p

You say you want what is best for your son. You are. Whatever you think of yourself ,to your son, you are his Dad warts and all. You don't need to discuss with grandparents etc.what is best for him. The answer is you, he wants just you, not your perfectly polished cars,not perfect fish cakes. None of those. He wants you,his Dad to be with him. I am sure you love him deeply but remember he is not a project he is your son and all the responsibilities that entails. Just be there for him.

enthusiasticsaver

It is not the end of the world if the BMW waits until tomorrow to be cleaned or valeted or whatever the hell you do to it that takes 4 hours !!!! Spending that time with your son when you have not seen him all week should be the priority or all he will see is that cars are more important than him. They are lumps of metal.  He is your family. 

foxgloves

^^^^ All of the above, underlined about 150 times with the brightest highlighter pen in the box!! Get your priorities right even if it takes you out of your comfort zone. Bonding with your son when you haven't been very involved in his daily life to date is going to take time, but it will be a damn sight easier to do it now than when he's secondary school age. You have time to get in there & make amends, to be involved. He doesn't give two sh*ts about school fees, he's too young. He just wants to do the stuff with his Dad that he knows other kids do with theirs & that isn't sitting indoors while his Dad spends 4 hours of precious family bonding time faffing about with car cleaning - aka avoidance strategy. Come on, you can do better than this.
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alt80

Through day 8 - tomorrow will see me 30% towards my first recovery goal. 

Decent end to the week work wise few big jobs came in and confirmation of a management job one of my staff has been chasing for a while.

Had a really nice afternoon and evening with family even if my son laughed at my fish cakes lol. Thought it was !!!!!! hilarious there was the first attempt in the freezer. Told him he can see if he can do better challenge for tomorrow ha. Done nothing towards the car in the end I fell to sleep watching Paddington 2 was absolutely whacked all afternoon even managed to lose a penalty shootout to a 7 year old fml haha. Wife has not let me live that down all evening. We let him stay up late to watch the match - he's ridiculously excited about Euro 2020 absolutely unreal haha. Apparently can't wait to 'see England win' love his optimism but fml will be waiting a very !!!!!! long time for that lol. Off to bed, weekend ahead planned. Started doing some of the budget figures looks like I'm going to be over for food budget a bit this month my fault keep spending time cooking and sending wife off to Sainsburys.

RelievedSheff

Glad you spent the time with your son last night. That is all he needs.

Sounds like the football will be an excellent way for you all to bond as a family again.

Hope you have a great weekend and smash days 9 and 10. 

foxgloves

That sounds like a nice positive afternoon & evening. Fish-shaped fishcakes is maybe a funny activity you can do together..... wonder if anyone can make a shark-shaped one.
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Willowtree222

That's great. Could you turn the football into your time together so you can both watch it and enjoy it? 

Grumpelstiltskin

Ask your wife if you can have £20 to spend on your son.
Then go to Lidl and get him England Football Shirt £2.99, Baseball Cap £3.99, Three Lions Flag £2.99 and England Football £8.99.
He won't worry that it's not xxxxx brand and you will go up in his estimation.

Allikat86

It was lovely to read your update, Alt. Grumpelstiltskin’s idea is a brilliant one. My 8 year old daughter loves Harry Potter and I often find little bits that aren’t ‘official’ but it makes her day. I’m being a bit presumptuous, but from your wife’s perspective I can imagine that nothing will make her happier than seeing you think of small creative ways to engage your son.

Sounds like the kickabout with you was something that your son really enjoyed! Really simple things that you can sit and do together that don’t require loads of physical energy are great too. We’ve just started playing a really simple board game called ‘Scotland Yard’ and it’s really well pitched for your son’s age - it’s something that you could try as a family. We have the junior one as I have a five year old too.