tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19936712.post7526938039630668199..comments2024-02-14T23:28:11.026-08:00Comments on FORGOTTEN PROPHETS: RadioJack Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04599425185005999225noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19936712.post-34680181801428433812009-12-11T17:43:24.979-08:002009-12-11T17:43:24.979-08:00I think the fatherhood role is possible and real w...I think the fatherhood role is possible and real within adult relationships. It loses an aspect of it's role of course, and it's society that places almost the entire value upon that aspect - that of "raising" the child to adulthood. <br /><br />But I believe fatherhood is a particular kind of adult relationship where guidance is still given and sought in a way that is not the same as other adult relationships. It involves respect rather than simply friendship. Though that, I think, needs to be there too.<br /><br />A father who raises a child to adulthood "properly" (i.e. the father has done his job right and the child has co-operated in that regard) will develop an adult relationship that contains friendship, sure, but also respect (primarily I guess from son to father) and care (primarily from father to son). <br /><br />I am a father to an adult (and three older teenagers as it happens) and I feel the care for my son, who is still my son, though an adult in his own right. And I believe (from his behaviour) that I receive his respect. It's *not* about authority or domination (which I'm sure some people could read 'respect' as), but about what the formerly dependent relationship matures into.<br /><br />My eldest son doesn't need to come to me and ask my permission about anything. But he still comes to me to ask my advice.<br /><br />In the deNiro case (or that of an absent father who re-appears in a persons life), I would have to say they have done nothing to merit/earn the father-son relationship, and so can not expect anything other than a more casual 'adult friendship'. To ask for more (than you've earned) is selfish and greedy (although if given freely should be treasured).ReZnuKhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04486836189572293082noreply@blogger.com