Question
Dear Mr Rosemond,
I just bought your book on how to help your kids through school and I have to say I'm not done with the first two pages and I'm distressed.
See, I'm like a million fathers who is divorced. I won't bore you with the details of divorce, but suffice to say I gave up my career, my savings and just about everything so that I wouldn't be the uncle my father was to me.
I spent tens of thousands of dollars to fight to make sure I have equal time with my son who is now eleven and who was only 18-months when his mother decided the marriage wasn't for her.
I am proud I have equal time with my son--I keep him every other week and like many states now, where I live true equal time and there is no custodiel parent.
So, I'm disheartened to see that in your view, the best case scenario is if two parents get along great and if they're divorced, they get along great with their new spouse. I'm sorry to say that there are millions of us divorced men out here who have neither the economic or emotional capital to start a second family.
The reason I bought your book is because my son is struggling in school, doesn't pay attention and simply hates school and has from the first day of first grade when he had a unforunate teacher. However, I'm not blaming that teacher or anything else and tend to blame myself for fighting for the privledge of being my son's very involved father but then reading study-fortified opinions like yours, and courts that cut and slice with their sterile view of what the system thinks is best.
It would be great to see something in your book or in future articles that would give some hope to the millions of men and fathers who struggle to support in every way they can only to find opinions and systems that are based on models that are based on Eisenhower-era ideals.
The immediate challenge is to find a way to get our son interested in learning and maturing and I'm hoping the remaining pages of your book will be able to offer some useful techniques for those of us who are not Ward Cleaver or, I suppose even Andy Griffith. At least he had Aunt Bee.
