I am the eldest of many children. My father was gone by the time I was 7 and my stepfather arrived not too long after. With my stepfather’s arrival in my life, one thing became crystal clear: my birth father would never be the dad I needed, and with the ensuing competition for my mother’s attention, nether could my stepfather. In many ways it felt like it was on me to parent my siblings as well as myself.
2. I am the eldest of many children.
My father was gone by the time I
was 7 and my stepfather arrived
not too long after.
@TheDovBaron
3. My birth father would never
be the dad I needed, and with
the ensuing competition for
my mother’s attention, nether
could my stepfather.
@TheDovBaron
4. @TheDovBaron
As tough as this was, one
good thing was that my
mother’s youngest sibling, my
uncle Ellis, was only nine years
older than me.
5. Uncle Ellis took me to concerts when
at 14 and 15. I saw many amazing
US performers, but there was one
American performer my uncle took
me to see twice, and I went on to see
a total of five times: Harry Chapin.
@TheDovBaron
6. “Cat’s in the Cradle” is one of
my favourite, and maybe one
of the best father and son
songs ever written.
@TheDovBaron
7. It tells the tale of a man who faces the
pressures of trying to make it in the
world and his son’s longing to connect
with his father. It begins with the dad
saying that he was too busy with work
and bills to be there for his son’s “firsts”
like walking and talking.
@TheDovBaron
8. The song goes on to say all the ways the
father keeps missing out on seeing his
son grow, and how the son makes it okay,
because he hopes that one day he’ll be
just like his father. And one day he does.
He grows up and doesn’t have time for his
elderly father. It’s heart-breaking.
@TheDovBaron
9. I believe that there is a crisis in the
world of multi generational families
and it’s a crisis of succession, of
continuance. Fathers and sons
banging heads, not hearing each
other and struggling to let go.
@TheDovBaron