BBJ, it's just that dan's attitude toward your son's performance in sports activities really worries the sh!t out of me. What is he saying to the poor kid when you're not around?
That is emotional abuse, and kids can absorb a lot of it because they love their parents. Especially the parent that left. Weird, I know.
Parents who live vicariously through their kids like dan does, and who are rabidly critical as well, are very disturbing to me. dan is like that @sshole dad in "The Bad News Bears."
And I pray to God that one day, Nathan rebels and embarrasses his dad the way the kid did in that movie. Priceless.
dan is also teaching your children to doubt themselves and to lie, as with the Sydney "left-the-birthday-gift-in-the-car" bit.
No wonder so many teens go off the rails. There are so many issues that could have been avoided.
I agree with this 100%. The damage he can do with this type of emotional abuse can take years to get over. My father belittled me about how I played baseball, even invented his own little "girlie" name for me. It basically shattered any confidence I had in sports for a long time. At this point Dan could not pass parenting 101.
