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Found this article by Kate Hunter abt To Kill a Mockingbird as a parenting book.


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when I was a child living with my mom (my dad deserted us), I used to pretend that Atticus Finch/Gregory Peck was my father. In my young mind they were the same person and that was who I wanted to be my dad.

 

An aside, I just read the book to my dc and we will be watching the movie tonight (the umpteenth time for me, the first time for dc).

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Sort of the same thing. Dh and I were watching Andy Griffith on Sunday. We talked about how Andy seemed so sensible to us but would probably be considered a bad parent now. He made Opie pay for the window he broke, brought a felon home for Sunday lunch and took the same felon fishing with his son. Not to mention the kid wanders around town all the time.

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I think the way the children turn out has as much (or more) to do with Calpurnia (and for Scout..Miss Maudie) then Atticus.

 

I've always thought he was a rather distant father. Interactions were all instigated by the children. If Atticus Finch had an introverted child I doubt they would ever have interacted at all. He was an adult who happened to have children and treated them the same way he treated the other adults in his life, when their lives happened to intersect.

 

I'm not saying he was a bad person, quite the opposite, but I got the feeling that they all reminded him of his wife too much and what he really wanted to do was move quietly through life with as few bumps as possible. When faced with a bump he took it on as a person of integrity and with a soft sigh.

 

Hardly someone I'd want to take parenting advice from. A man of integrity, but not a stellar parent.

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I read To Kill a Mockingbird every summer.

 

I love Atticus as a father. The book is even more wonderful now that I'm a parent.

 

But, I agree with a previous poster that Atticus couldn't have been the hands-off, laid-back, mellow dad that he was without Calpurnia. She took care of all the daily 'nitty-gritty' -- wouldn't you agree?

 

I also always wish I could know more about his late wife. The loneliness for her just oozes out of him -- not in a desperate way, but an oozing way nonetheless.

 

Great article! Fun thread!

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But, I agree with a previous poster that Atticus couldn't have been the hands-off, laid-back, mellow dad that he was without Calpurnia. She took care of all the daily 'nitty-gritty' -- wouldn't you agree?

 

 

Yes, this it true. He sure wasn't a "fun" dad, either. Dh is a fun dad. The kids love it, but sometimes I wish he was less fun and more Atticus. ;)

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