Damn.. you said that sis

my father was in the home, parents were married and my dad would go into panic mode if she left us alone with him for more than 4 hours


She had to go to the hospital for in-patient surgery, he couldn’t cook for nothing - had us eating undercooked pancakes with the batter still oozing out when we went to eat it, after the first day he had my aunt stay with us until she recovered

I was 6 yrs old and he’s calling me to help change my little brother’s diaper and warm up the baby bottles

Picked up my kids from their father - had the baby’s onesie on backwards. I don’t know how he managed to do that bc it was the one with the little footies built into the outfit
- I say all that to state that there’s a huge difference between raising a kid 24/7 day to day, over being there part time. Most of these dudes responding do not have kids- they wouldn’t begin to comprehend the complex nature of parenting. Real easy to judge what you’re not responsible for doing yourself and have not experienced. And it’s not always absent dads either-if a father is not emotionally available to the kid, that’s just as detrimental. I know kids from 2 parent, middle class households, good schools etc , that stayed in and out of juvie or sent up to alternative schools. Everyone is not built the same and every situation can’t apply to everyone. Parenting is not a damn choose your own adventure manual.