Nurse Michael Weber was exhausted after coming home from a 12-hour shift. His wife wanted to take their four kids aged from 5 to 12 to the shops in the snow, but Michael decided to look after the kids so she could go alone.
When Monica came home, she was caught off guard by what she saw.
In a stroke of parenting genius, Michael had asked his kids to draw him while he posed.
“I'm pretty sure he's the most brilliant man I've ever known,” Ms Weber wrote in a post to Facebook. “He has them doing 'realism art' while he 'poses' AKA naps. The winner gets a chocolate, but let's be honest, Michael is the one winning.”
Parents around the world were fans of the idea.
“As an L&D nurse who worked night shift (every Fri, Sat, Sun) so I could be at home with the kids – my husband and I have nine (9), I totally get this!” one woman wrote. “I had to think of creative ways to get naps in while my husband worked a Mon-Fri “regular” job. Kudos, mad kudos.”
“You and your husband made my day with this,” said another. “My partner works away all week as a truck driver and his first question is always, do I need 5 minutes on my own. Gotta love men whose first thought is their partner.”
Monica added later more details about the idea.
“Between his time in the military and job as an OR nurse he is the lightest sleeper ever,” she wrote, adding that her eldest two kids are also capable of getting his attention if it was needed.
“I was gone maybe 20 minutes, no one was hurt, no houses burned down, no eyes poked out with pencils,” she wrote.”I took the picture upon my return when all the kids Sshhed me because they wanted to finish their drawing. I didn't pose the kids (if you know my kids they would do about anything for chocolate lol), everyone enjoyed their “art break” and Mike took some stress off my plate while resting his eyes.”
“Our kiddos are not perfect,” she continued. “There are plenty of days we face all the same challenges every other “big” family faces who try to find balance between work, family, and life.
“That's why these little moments are worth celebrating.”
This article originally appeared on Over60.