Was Bob a decent parent?

[MysticMisty]

Bob held some kind of resentment towards black people, so maybe that's where Coleslaw and Bob disagreed sharply. I don't think Bob was a full cross burner, but he seemed to have some...views.

Another thing to consider is Cole was around 17 when Bob came into his life, he was probably rebellious and I wouldn't be surprised if they got into shit-flinging over political views plus, someone appearing that late in someone's childhood would probably be hard to accept as a real father. Then we have Cole's probably less than stellar childhood under Barb, who was a bar hopping "woman of the night" at this time.

He left home in 1981 for college so he may have lived around Bob, but definitely not for long, just probably a year or two. From what Chris has said (dubious, I know) is that when Bob and Barb dated up into the early part of their marriage all they did was drink and fuck, which probably annoyed young Cole. It was probably a strain coming home to either to angry hung overed or drunk off their asses Bob and Barb.

I don't think Bob had any "views", unless you think Bob was one of those racists who listens to Jazz albums from the 30's, takes a big pull from Stroh's tallboy, and thinks "Boy, them Nigras make some good music when they're not out rapin' women and stealing watermelons!"

I will admit some of us see Bob like Walt from Gran Torino; a hard drinkin', real talkin', shitlord Korean War vet. In reality though, Bob comes off as some mild mannered engineer with heart disease. That's the thing about Bob, though. We don't know what happened for the fist 55 years of his life. He did alienate the children from his first wife, which is damming. Cole doesn't like him, Chris merely "respects" him. This is what makes Bob so interesting, and so sympathetic, in my opinion.

Yeah. Bob never struck me as the grizzled old bastard people make him out to be. More likely he was an old-fashioned guy who made a few racist comments without realizing how inappropriate they really are.
He always seemed to me a defeated man, especially in regards to Chris. I have no doubt that Bob tried his hardest to teach Chris in spite of his autism, only to have Barb impede because she was fine with having a dumb-dumb son to depend on her for the rest of her life.

I'm on the fence with Bob, and my opinion on him depends more on what we don't know pre-Barb. The fact that his former wife and children wanted nothing to do with him raises some serious red flags to me, and I wish we knew more of the story.

If this thread already exists, mods are welcome to lock this and necro the old one.

Anyways. We know Barb is definitely the shittiest of the two, but how much better was Bob, really? Discuss.

 

[Mr. 0]

He cut down Chris's internet and made him bow before the might of the Health Department, of the Greene County, for getting their house condemned, and moving them out of it.

He is much better than Barb.

 

[Barley]

So-so.

 

[animedad]

My first instinct would be to say "no" considering how Chris turned out, but on second thought he wasn't as bad as Barb.

Bob was 54 when Chris was born, so I'm guessing he mostly didn't give a shit at that point. Barb molded Chris into being the selfish little monster he is today, but I don't know how much Bob really played a role in that.

 

[facepalm]

Its a tough call with Bob. Clearly not being willing to get Chris the help he needed as a child to deal with Autism is a huge issue. Add in the lack of any real boundaries or direction given to Chris, Bob is a disaster.


However, the guy was in his 50's when Chris was born. Its not shocking that given his age, Bob would have negative thoughts about putting his son in what he would have seen as an institution. As Chris got older he likely didnt have the energy required to actually raise Chris.


The kicker is that you add the entirely toxic Barb into the mix and you end up with Chris. Any good Bob may have tried to do for Chris was utterly destroyed by her.


I personally think Bob did try, but ultimately failed his son due to a number of factors. Some were his fault, some were not. In the end, he was at best an entirely mediocre father.

 

[Lipitor]

I mean his first two kids turned out pretty successful. Poor bob got con'd by barb who intentionally got pregnant so she'd have a meal ticket to ride on for another 3o years.

 

[animedad]

However, the guy was in his 50s when Chris was born. It's not shocking that given his age, Bob would have negative thoughts about putting his son in what he would have seen as an institution. As Chris got older he likely didnt have the energy required to actually raise Chris.

This. Bob was incredibly old-fashioned.

I personally think Bob did try, but ultimately failed his son due to a number of factors. Some were his fault, some were not. In the end, he was at best entirely mediocre father.

He definitely tried, but he was still an enabler. When Chris was being deceitful and maxing out his credit and digging himself into deeper debt, Bob made things worse by absolving Chris' debt and essentially reinforcing the childish idea that no matter how much trouble he gets in, he doesn't need to take responsibility because either mommy or daddy will bail him out.

 

[DZ 305]

He tried. He made some grade A fuck ups, but he did make an effort. For the most part. Not forcing Chris to find and hold down a job, along with failing to get Chris the help he needed when he was younger is perhaps Bob's biggest mistakes. I won't pretend to judge the man too harshly. Far from perfect, better than Barb, and probably better than if Chris had no father.

 

[Trans Fat 41g]

On account of confronting him about his bullshit, yes, anything more than that just wasn't enough.

Bob was intimidating enough to control a son but it wasn't enough. He is better than a commercial slob who lives up to every stereotype of a burnout mother that sleeps all day.

 

[Tubular Monkey]

Out of his depth but well-meaning. Lumping him in with Hoardzilla is unfair. Chris would have done much better in life if he'd just had Bob.

 

[Batman VS Tony Danza]

He wasn't a great parent but since he's often compared to Barb he tends to look like a saint. Many of the things Bob is praised for are things you expect from a normal parent. He wanted Chris to have some form of financial security and cared about Chris's future to an extent. Barb didn't and just wanted a living teddy bear that can fetch food.

While the full scope of what Chris was doing on the internet never hit Bob he did get a glimpse from time to time. Chris might lose internet access for a few weeks but he'd get it back and it'd be right back to screaming at the PS3 cam or humping something for an audience.

 

[facepalm]

While the full scope of what Chris was doing on the internet never hit Bob he did get a glimpse from time to time. Chris might lose internet access for a few weeks but he'd get it back and it'd be right back to screaming at the PS3 cam or humping something for an audience.

At that point Bob is 80 years old. You can't honestly expect an 80 year old man to be able to properly supervise an autistic 25-30 year old man. Sure, Bob's mediocre at best parenting got them into the situation, but at that point Bob was not physically capable of stopping Chris.

 

[Lemon Vagina]

Short answer, no.

Long answer, fuck no. Just like Snorlax he was negligent at best and abusive at worst. One thing people on the Farms seem to miss is that he was still a shitty parent- he just wasn't as shitty as Barb so he gets off lightly with things. Bob was still an aging redneck and the fact none of his other kids wanted anything to do with him speaks volumes.

 

[Apocalypso]

He was more of a grandparent already when Chris was born.

 

[Batman VS Tony Danza]

At that point Bob is 80 years old. You can't honestly expect an 80 year old man to be able to properly supervise an autistic 25-30 year old man. Sure, Bob's mediocre at best parenting got them into the situation, but at that point Bob was not physically capable of stopping Chris.

Supervise him? Hell no. Moving the PS3 out of Chris's fortress of solitude would have been a small action to take and protected Chris a bit more though.

 

[TheProdigalStunna]

He did about as well as an old-fashioned geriatric raising an autistic child in the modern world could have. Which is to say he was incompetent but you can't really hold it against him.

 

[Amelia]

He slept with barb his judgement was already severely impaired. Furthermore if he had an adult child he should of treated him like a child. Instead bob treated chris like any other boy chris's age and let him go out and look for china all over town even after the arrests. I would of put that little shit on house arrest or found him a home. Bob was a terrible father.

 

[Asandy31]

I am thinking that several rabid racoons dressed in a hillbilly costume would have been better suited to being a father to Chris, and Chris himself probably would be unable to tell the difference at least physically anyway.

 

[John Daker]

Bob was not a good parent. Bob was leagues better than Barb.

 

[Mashed Potato Grenade]

There's this taped phone call (which for some reason is not in the CWCki) where Bob expresses the following:
1. He considers his son a genius because he's is able to play videogames.
2. He considers himself a great dad because "doctors said that Chris may not be able to write his own name. I dismissed them and today Chris can write his own name."
3. For some reason he believes that Chris has 2 profesional degrees.
4. He firmly believes that his son's cartoon character is an international success.
5. Chris is not guilty (and has never been guilty) of anything imputed on him. It's all a matter of prejudice against autistic persons.
6. Autism only makes you a bit shy, but it gives you otherwise amazing mental powers like photographic memory and math brilliance.
7. The only reason why Chris doesn't have a job is because "the game is rigged against autistic people" and there's some sort of conspiracy to avoid hiring them.

If you ask me if Bob was a decent father, I have to say: no. He never made an effort to understand what it meant to have an autistic son and just created all these complicated conspiracies to justify Chris' behavior.