Mother’s Day
The Weekday Parent
Parenting is a sometimes thankless job made even more difficult when the spotlight is stolen by a partner who does not always pull their weight.
- Lyrics often quoted by my mother
When tales are told around the dinner table at family gatherings, my father has three advantages over my mother:
- He is no longer alive.
Death tends to sanitize memories so that we focus on the positive sides of the ledger. Perhaps it is our mind’s way of protecting people who mean a lot to us after they are gone or a sense of fairness that people who cannot defend themselves should not be held accountable. Regardless of the reason, I am more likely to recall positive memories of my dad than vivid recollections of some very heated arguments.
2. He did not play a very hands-on role during my childhood.
If a parent off-loads the responsibilities of day-to-day parenting, then the path is cleared to make positive interactions count. Divorced parents with physical custody have to do the work of ensuring their children do their…
