I'm talking about how there's things that I would prefer to do, such as a 2 hour full meeting that was offsite as opposed to showing up and leaving early due to my child care restraints. Could I have taken advantage of the generosity of whomever I'd have dropped them off with? Perhaps. Yet, one time leads to more times and suddenly I've created a rift with the individual(s) for attending to my responsibility. Which is what, in fact, this man is alluding to your needing to do to prove yourself to him.

He writes that he doesn't think of himself as needy. But that's how in fact it comes accross. He's apparently out of sorts by virtue of expressing all of this.