Well, I assume Bobby's had family in the past, like he didn't grow up an orphan or something, so I'm sure he did have some frame of reference for how a family should be. But the fact is that he doesn't have kids himself, and being a parent is a whole nother ball of wax. I'm just saying that it's easy for him to criticize John's parenting, but we just don't know that he would have been any better a parent. Maybe he doesn't have John's explosive temperament, but he has faults too, like being a bit of a curmudgeon!

I definitely agree with you there about his having that third party perspective on the situation, and also him having more appreciation for the kids than John, who may take them for granted. Not that John takes having kids for granted per se, since he does spend every waking moment worrying about them and trying to protect them. But perhaps in terms of appreciation for the relationship that he has with them, or that he could have with them if he wasn't such a stubborn bastard.

I suppose I will grudgingly have to agree with you though, because I did just think of a scenario in which I would judge someone a bad parent, despite the fact that I'm not a parent, and I know that I would be correct. And those instances would be if the parent did things that were clearly harmful to the child. Whether they did them purposefully or not would be inconsequential, because the end result would be a damaged kid, which equals a bad parent.

I don't either! *horror* Will have to find one...