5 lessons from Eddie Murphy’s Daycare for Dad that dads can and should apply immediately
It’s amazing how little kids can find an older movie that you might have forgotten about, decide they like it, and play it over and over and over.
My five-year-old son did just that with Eddie Murphy’s Daycare for Dad. The really interesting thing is that when I first saw this movie, I was looking at it through the eyes of a person without children. OH BUT NOT THIS TIME.
Now every time I watch this movie with my son, which is at least twice a week as of this writing. I get the underlying messages of the movie that really motivate me as a father and entrepreneur
So I took the time to explain Eddie Murphy’s 5 Lessons from Dad Daycare Dads Can and Should Apply Immediately.
The lie of corporate security
Eddie Murphy’s character in this film had a very important and time-consuming career product development. He regularly answered the call from his cell phone and the endless rings of his e-mail. Most men who have worked in the corporate world can handle this.
But then THAT happens (insert music from horror movies). He and his very good friend are fired in a way that shocks Charlie (Eddie’s character) and his business partner Phil. Have any of you experienced this? (The author of this post raises his hand).
Charlie must immediately accept the reality that his employer had the power to terminate the job in which he discovered his identity. And it doesn’t matter how emotionally invested he is. It didn’t matter what his financial obligations were. And it didn’t even matter that he had brought success to the company in the past. So what’s next?
What really matters
Charlie’s time was no longer occupied by meetings, presentations, emails and phone calls. So what does he do now? Well, isn’t it obvious from the title? He returned to being father. He had to read to his son at night and even fell asleep in bed with him. (And the crowd goes AWWWWW!!)
Since it wasn’t the end of the movie, the importance of this quality time hadn’t hit him yet. But it helped him focus on home.
The joy of presence
So Dad’s Charlie and Phil decide to embark on the fun task of creating a daycare for Dad. In which both their children are present.
With a mix of lots of humor, costume play, sugar hits and sugar meltdowns and of course NEP TIME. The Day care for dad is taking shape. Now remember the scene I talked about earlier where Charlie is reading and putting his son to sleep. Well because of Charlie’s decision to start this home business, he and his son had a lot more time together.
Sidebar: This is one of those points where the film really started to speak to my own desires as a father and an entrepreneur.
Charlie went from being an absent father due to his career to a present and involved father due to a business decision. Which brings me to the next and very valuable point.
A true full performance
Being a family comedy, there’s plenty of hilarity along with the challenges of two very inexperienced men running a daycare while competing with the big private academy in town.
During their journey, they encounter surprise inspections, sabotage, and Charlie is even faced with the very difficult choice of returning to his old job.
Sidebar: To me, this represents the struggle many men go through every day when they leave home and children.
But something amazing happens when he decides to briefly return to the corporate world and leave his pioneering Day care for dad. While in the boardroom, he was asked to give a presentation by the same person who had laid him off not long ago.
THAT finally hitting him in the head. Realizing that the quality time he was able to spend with his son was so priceless that he suddenly excused himself and quickly went to pick up his son from the dreaded Academy he was competing against. And he did BRAVE statement that Day care for dad it was here to stay.
What you can learn about yourself from your children
As I watch this movie over and over again. At the same time, I look after my son. I observe which parts of the movie make him laugh and realize that I am laughing at the same parts. I notice that he is attracted to this movie more than other more popular cartoons. Then I realize that he already has a desire to be a father when he grows up, and this movie speaks to a deep desire within him.
And guess what… So did I when I was his age. Watching my son learn and grow highlights my own qualities that I am responsible for developing or correcting in him.
My son has been such an incredible influence on how I’ve developed in my career and how I’ve learned the value of time. I am so thankful that he was tough enough to put up with my days of being an absentee Father due to career choices. Yet loving enough to forget my absence in the moments when I went home. (He stops to catch his breath and not cry)
I hope this post motivates another Dad to decide that those he cares about the most also deserve more of his time than anything else.
If you enjoyed this post, please feel free to like, comment and share.
God bless
Rodney K.
#lessons #Eddie #Murphys #Daycare #Dad #dads #apply #immediately