Dadhood and me: how becoming a father made me reflect on my own childhood

I’m starting to see that this is the phase where you become the parent you swore never to be. Inquisitive when it’s least welcome. (“And what did you do at school today?”) A pedant. (“It can’t be ‘nothing’, you cannot have spent a whole day at school doing ‘nothing’.”) Needy. (“You used to tell me things.”) Sulky. (“I won’t ask again.”) Inconsistent. (“And what did you do at school today?”) Writing this out, I realise my dadhood, now, has much in common with getting dumped. Before you realise you’re the dumped-in-waiting, you’re contributing to its inevitability. When you do realise, you behave in ways that amplify and hasten the crisis.