Screened FROM Kin-chan

[hippie_digger]

I suck as a father figure. I'm supposed to have some sort of solution. I don't. What am I supposed to say or do to make it better for my kid? If she was here...she'd know exactly what to do. But that isn't going to happen and I know it.

Why do I fail so much at this!

Comments

[sakakitarou]

Has something happened?

[hippie_digger]

My kid is having a lot of troubles right now. Fighting with his boss. In between his two best freinds; who are fighting with each other. It's really getting to him. And the one person who would know what to say hasn't been around in a long time...so it's me...and I'm utterly failing at this... All I can do is sit there and listen to him. I wish I had the way to make it better.

[gracious_savior]

...Watanabe-san, was it?
I'm not a father at all, and I'm fairly young, so you are free to ignore me if you wish with what I'm about to say. But...might I suggest trying to look at it from your child's perspective? I know at times I wished for that from my own parents, at least. But at the same time, I'll also say, you are supposed to be the mature one. You're not the best friend. You're the parent. I know it sounds difficult to be both someone who understands and someone who tends to dictate, but that's what a parent is supposed to do.
I can't say I know your relationship at all beyond a few comments I've seen here and there, but...in all honesty, I think you try too hard to be his friend, not his father. You need to learn to merge the two. There's right places for both, and right now...I don't think a friend is what he needs from the sound of it.

[hippie_digger]

Yes. Though I usually just go by first name, so call me Osamu.

I am a friend though. As well as his father figure. But I've never really told him what to do before. That was never my place. I was always just the strange adventurer that drifted in and out of his and his mother's life. Along the way, I sort of grew fond of the both of them. I see him as the son I never had. He calls me dad...

This is the longest the two of us have ever been together. This is my first time ever trying to be a dad. It's like there's a new baby in the house...only the new baby is a teenaged boy. I can't even look back at what MY parents did or didn't do as examples, because I can't remember them at all.

[gracious_savior]

Osamu-san it is, then~

Time to step up to the proper position, then, I would guess. You're not the drifter anymore to him now. You're officially a father. And since he's the son you never had, as you said, it might be time to be the father that he needs.

...So...now's as good of a time as any to throw yourself in head first, then, perhaps? You've lost a lot of time, from the sound of it. So do you really want to miss out on moments that matter?

[hippie_digger]

I suppose you're right about that. Though he knows eventually, I will leave. It's not in my nature to stay put too long. I'll lose what's left of my mind if I don't go out on a dig every now and again. He was a much a nomad as I, so I think he understands the call to travel better than most.

And I suppose I'm not the first father to freak out about this sort of thing. So I guess I'll just do my damn best and if I screw up, I screw up. I won't be the first dad who's kid hates him...

Thanks for the advice.