Quote:
Mary Malmros wrote:
Out of curiosity, how many shihan are parents? Or, let's be blunt, how many shihan are not men who have dumped their parental responsibilities onto their wives?
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Hi Mary,
In my sex's defense, I stayed at home with the kids. My ex and I had eight kids between us (hers, mine and ours). I may not have been a stellar Dad in some ways but all my kids, step kids too, knew I loved them and I never put all the work onto my wives. I cook, am an ace with dirty diapers, can treat colic with homeopathics, can put any baby born to sleep on my shoulder in ten minutes, have dealt with eating disorders, ADHD, runaways, hoodlum friends, you name it. And I trained just about every day.
Now on the money front, well that's another matter... pretty low score on that report card. Spent what should have been my kid's college money on Aikido. They've all been aware for many years that they'll have to work it out as best they can. I can help but I sure don't have much to contribute. My Dad would say that I didn't fulfill my responsibilities there... and I suspect some here would agree. I wouldn't argue with them.... it's just what I chose and we all have to live with it. Some kids get an alcoholic Dad, some get a Dad who is abusive, some have Dads they never see because they work so hard. My kids got a Dad who blew all his money training in this weird art with an interesting Japanese teacher and now spends most of his time teaching that weird art to other folks who march to that different drummer we've all heard about.
- George