- Joined
- Dec 13, 2022
I'm not a father but definitely want to be one at some point. I can understand getting tired of your children sometimes when they're being annoying but to so clearly just resent them and just wish you never had them is something I just can't understand
I've got kids -- three of them. They're all grown up now. I wasn't the greatest of fathers. My wife always insists I'm a better grandfather than I was a father. (My kids insist that I was fine as a father and they had a good childhood, but I know I could have done better. Should have done better.)
There were definitely times when I resented them -- when they felt like an imposition. You get to a stage in your life -- which I'm guessing is where Nick is at now -- where your career takes off, you enjoy some success, and all of a sudden, the stuff you're getting invited to outside of the house seems more interesting, more compelling, than dreary domesticity. You're a proven breeder and capable of commitment, so all of a sudden, shedloads of hot women -- women who invested in their career rather than in relationship and are still just shy of hitting the wall -- seem to find you compelling for the first time in your life. It can get really hard to maintain a focus on what's important when that happens.
So, I can see that you might be tempted to make the kind of statement Nick made about his kids privately, among friends. I don't think I would have ever said anything similar myself, but I understand the kind of pressures that could cause you to feel that way, fleetingly at least.
I don't understand why you'd ever say anything like that out loud and in public. Seriously, my kids are really the great achievement of my life. Of all the things I've done -- and I've had a relatively rich and full life -- my kids are the thing that has most meaning. I'd love them whoever they were and what ever they turned out like, but as it is, they've all turned out to be smart, talented and great company. I enjoy the time that I spend with them. That's not a given -- I don't feel that way about my own family -- my parents and my siblings. It's not just a blood loyalty thing. My kids are genuinely great.
But I think that's nurture. You get out of your kids what you put in. Spending time with them, having open and honest conversations, being clear about the borders for what constitutes appropriate behaviour and what's out of line. Building solid relationships.
Perhaps he hasn't gone past the point of no return and still has time to pull up in respect of his kids, but he's spent the last year or so spiralling the shithole. If he doesn't pull up he'll find his daughters fucking off to live with somebody like Boogie1488 or Drexel as soon as she's 18, because anything is better than having to live with the entitled man-child that publicly humilates them over the internet.