Good point. I became aware of how important that is after dating two guys in quick succession whose fathers had both died when the boys were two years old. The difference in their own stability and happiness correlated pretty directly with their mothers' acceptance of the situation, or lack thereof.
Can you point to factors & behaviors in the two scenarios that were pivotal? Offer any items to the list? *grin* Inquiring, still-single minds would like to know.
Basically, it boils down to expectations. Dave's dad died of a heart attack and his mother passed along to him the sense that his father was an ideal husband and father whose example he could never equal and that life was deeply unfair for having left her alone to cope with single parenthood. Rob's mom never married his dad, didn't even have much of a relationship with him, from what I gather, and seems never to have planned on anything other than single parenthood. Guess which one is a better adjusted adult!
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