Response to "Father's Day '99" on This American Life

This hour-long dialogue about the father-child relationship talked about various examples in which the father and child attempt to protect the other from occurrences in life. In the first story, a father goes to great lengths to retrace his steps to find his son's beloved bear that was thrown away. The trials this father went through to spare his son from losing his bear demonstrated a father's need to protect their child. The second story was about a father who was losing his memory. The sons attempted to help their father through his illness by quizzing him about their names and professions. This story was more about the turn the father-son relationship might take as time continues on. The third story was an interview with a father and daughter. In an attempt to protect his daughter from discovering that fictional characters are not real, he lied to his daughter. Still, there relationship remained quite close.

While exploring father-child relationships can be touching, I found this third story particularly disturbing. Parents are supposed to teach their children about he world and how to cope with their feelings, not shield them from it. Lying to children does not change the truth, the best thing a parent can do for their child is expose them to the world and prepare them to deal with reality. If most parents adopt the policy of protecting their children rather than helping them face disappointment, then I seriously fear for the future.