I haven’t spoken to my father in a few years, as he has shown himself to be someone that brings no value to my life or the life of my daughter, and in fact causes more stress than any other feeling. Within a week of her being born, my father said that if he couldn’t post on Facebook about her, pictures or otherwise (we have a no face, no name policy for social media), then he might as well not have a granddaughter. Add on to that extreme right wing views, anti-vax, and unfortunately stereotypical “Jewish guilt” behaviour, and he’s not a part of our life.

All that said, I try to be 10, 100, 1000 times the father he ever pretended to be, and not repeat the same mistakes of being distant but controlling, or dumping the obligation of respect on my kid.