Was it ever too late for my scum bag dad to become a great dad?

 

"Baby Boy Thorp" will know he's loved and valued by his Dad--my son-- and by his Mom.  He will have a positive male role model and will learn how to become a man.

 

I kind of lost track of Focus on the Family and it's organization.  My wife and I listened to its radio program pretty faithfully when our kids were really young.  We learned a lot about everything form the strong-willed child to  how to discipline.

Dr. James Dobson retured and was replaced by Jim Daly who I had never heard much about.  Then I clicked on this tweet about how it's never too late to become a great Dad.  I've thought about that issue a lot over the years because of my birth father who deserted my Mom and me when I was a toddler.   He never came back, never called, wrote or did anything to support us.  He was a true "Scum bag Dad."  

I found him when I was in my 20s.  He had a whole different family, lived on the other side of the country and had lots of money.  He totally rejected me.  His parting words to me involved a threat to my life and then I left.  

The question I often wondered about was whether he could have moved the daddy needle from being a scumbag to being a real dad.  Can anybody else relate to this?

Jim Daly of Focus on the Family comes from a no-dad background.  And in this intereview with Christianity Today, he talks about his experience in plain terms that I can relate to.  He learned how to be a man and how to be a Dad by default.  He had no male role models.  

If this type of experience matches yours or that of somebody you know, this might be helpful.  This is a  multi-layered topic that reeks with emotion that most guys don't want to show.

Which end of the spectrum are you on, Dad or Son?  Daughter?