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Sit Doggie, Sit.  Atta Boy.

Dear Friend,

Yesterday I was sitting in the Tampa airport on my way up to Atlanta to attend the Information Marketing Summitt.

My flight was delayed and so I became absorbed in doing some "catch-up" reading. You know -- those small pamphlets, direct mail pieces, and REAMS of pages you've printed off the internet, but never seem to have the time to get to?

I always use business trips as my "catch-up" time to go through all of that -- plus of course, all my newsletters I subscribe to.

Anyway, I guess it got to be close to boarding time, and all of a sudden, the airport was filled with a flurry of activity.

Kids were running around... husbands like me were closing their cell phones saying their final good-byes to their wives... and friends and family members were shaking each others hands and exchanging warm hugs with one another, and talking with excitement about the next time they'd get together again.

Before I boarded, I needed to make a quick stop in the mens room, and on the way, a small boy was running around and he nearly crashed right into me.

I was just about to jump out of his way, when suddenly, it was as if someone had put an invisible wall up in front of him, because he got jerked so far back he nearly fell on his rear end.

I didn't see what was happening, but I kept looking the kid up and down, and I realized he had a long thing connected to him, like some kind of a bungee cord or something.

Nope, not a bungee cord, but it was a leash. You've seen them before, I'm sure. It's just like a dog leash, only it's connected to a kid and their parent is holding it.

I didn't know whether to pet the little fellow, say "good boy"... or else look at the dad and say "Wow, can he do any other tricks?"

I decided to go with Option 3 -- ask dad if the kid he can do any other tricks, like "roll over"... or "fetch" or something like that.

Just kidding.

This entire "leash" business is humiliating. If you aren't responsible enough to take your kid out in public and you need to put a leash on him, then stay at home and endure the frustration called parenthood. The problem here isn't the kid, it's these lazy parents who don't want to put some time and effort into making their kids productive and functional members of society.

The people who "leash" their kids are the same people who throw money at their kids as a way of keeping them "busy" and out of their hair.

Look, when I had my son I was 26 and dumber than a hitch-post. And when I had my second son two years later, I was still as dumb as a plank. But I was responsible, and I'll be a monkey's uncle before I'll ever walk away from the responsibility I have to my kids -- even on those days when it isn't very rewarding, you've just gotta hang in there.

See, I chose to have them, not the other way around. And just the same way you need to put a lot of effort into owning an expensive boat... or the upkeep on a big house... you just have to go out of your way to do the same thing with your kids -- like it or not.

In fact, my goal is to give my kids enough "ammo" so that I can "unleash" them as early as possible, not keep them at bay.

I'll never forget what the nurse anesthesioligist said to me while my oldest son was being born.  It was very very valuable advice.  She said, "Your kids are going to jump over lots and lots of stones in their lifetime.  Your job isn't to pick and choose which stones they jump over -- it's to make them the best stone-jumpers they can possibly be."

Well said.

Now go sell something,

Craig Garber

P.S.  Kick FEAR right on its ASS, here:  http://www.kingofcopy.com/science

Any comments?

Send them to me by scooting over to the contact form on my "Here's How To Contact Craig" page, and maybe I'll publish them -- I appreciate your feedback!

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