Good Dad?

Odd week.

Odd last few weeks really. I've started working in the paid world again. This shakes things up a bit, yes, but it is a good thing. The extra money is nice, but the self-confidence is better.
I can do most my work from home and when I *do* go to the location, I can be back before the kids get back.

My son has a friend who has asked to get off the bus at our house and play. After some investigating, it all became clear...
My son's friend is having a difficult time. His birth-mother is in prison (in a different state) for prostitution.
His father had remarried, and they had another son, yet now they are divorced. His Step-mom is also his den leader for our cub-scout troop (of which I am a committee member/leader as well). Well, the step-mom no longer lives in the house as dad has a girl-friend, she is in an apartment. And she has possession (or at least join-custody) of the younger sibling.
...I think that brings you up to speed.
So - the reason for my bringing this up>

This young boy (He's 9 or 10, I cannot remember), spent the summer in a different state, with his grand-parents.

And as just mentioned, the dad and the new girl-friend each have jobs, with the girl-friend finishing her work day earlier, she is able to arrive at the house between 5:30 - 6:00 PM.
Why would this be a problem? He gets off the bus at 3:30 PM I know it is not a horrific situation, with poverty stricken gang-bangers around, but I see the situation preventable.

Thursday he asked to spend the night, as the dad was at work until 10PM and the girl-friend was going out with girlfriends. I had to explained it to him that this weekend wasn't possible as our family would not be around = we would be leaving to visit relatives for the weekend. Today (Friday) he all but begged me to take him with us.
His step-mom (or should I say former step-mom?) picked him up. Apparently she had a date and was willing to cancel/modify her plans.

Why do I go on about this? In retrospect, I think we could have taken him with us...

I'm not the clever & cool dad that Heathcliff Huxtable was, but then again, I'm not Al Bundy either.

I guess we just do as we do, according to our gifts. Maybe my job *is* to save the Earth, not in a dashing, romantic way, but rather to save the earth, one child at a time.

Here endith the (moderately narcissistic) pontification...