Dad's worried my son is weak
My dad has always believed men should be raised a certain way and be tough. He's always trying to get in the way of how I raise my boys. Their dad died when they were 7 and 4 and he believes they need a male role model to teach them to be tough of men. While that's true my dad isn't the role model I really want. I don't agree with his approach on how boys should be raised and for people who disagree with me. I have 5 brother. 3 out of 5 have committed suicide and 1 just got out of a mental hospital for a suicide attempt. I only have one brother who doesn't struggle with depression. At least not anymore since he left home at 14. So no. While I absolutely love my dad, I don't love his parenting style and it clearly doesn't work. My son to be 9th grader has anxiety and tourette's. My dad thinks I baby/feminize him too much which is why he's so anxious. My dad doesn't believe anxiety and depression are real. He believes it's a choice. Yeah and now I have 3 dread brothers because of that thought process. Anyway how this became an argument is my dad is staying with us for a little while because he's been fighting with my bonus mom. My son doesn't really have friends because his anxiety is so bad and his tourette's embarrass him. We go to the park a few times a week where I help him practice his baseball because he wants to try out for the team in highschool. My dad watched yesterday and there's always these teenage boys around. My dad was pitching to my son and one of the boys came up to him and said "I see you hear and I think you're so cool." Which of course through him off. He doesn't have friends and some random boy calls him cool. He asked if maybe they could hang out sometime and write his number on my son's hand. My dad did not like this and told my son to wash it off. I told him he doesn't have to and my dad said that's not how real men make friends and that boy clearly isn't looking for a friend. I told him even if that boy was wanting more than a friend it could still turn into a good friendship and he can do as he pleases with the number. My dad said if my son is so desperate for friends he's willing to take a f*gs friendship then I've raised a weak man. I said if that boy is gay what does that have to do with friendship. My dad kept saying I'm raising weak men and my daughter has more balls than my boys and I got annoyed and said "You're talking about balls yet you're hear because you're hiding from your wife instead of working of your marriage?" He did not like that and got pissed and said he will just move out. Told me I'm ruining my kids and he's done trying to help turn my boys into men if I won't let him and I will have weak men who don't provide or protect their families. My dad leaves and 10 minutes later starts demanding an apology. My dad is so irritating. I get it. He's old school. But there's more than one way to raise a child and the fact that over half my siblings are DEAD shows his way doesn't work.
Achieve your health goals from period to parenting.