My daughter says she hates me.
I am a mean dad.
I make her clean up her room
and yell at her if she talks back.

My daughter says she hates me.
And she hates her mother too,
because her mother listens to me>
She does not see that in a family
there needs to be leadership
and parents need to agree.

My daughter hates spending all
the time with the family.
She wants to be alone or with her friends.
I tell her that most kids do not
spend any time with their parents.
She should feel lucky, I say,
that we pay any attention to her.
Look around your friends, my child.
I bet they cry to have even a minute
a day with their parents, instead of
just watching tv.
And don't get me started with the many
that are abandoned, homeless or whose parents
just died.

My daughter hates living at home.
She cannot wait to leave.
She does not know that the world is dirty and dangerous,
that is full of monsters and thiefs
that will steal her soul away.
She thinks I am paranoid and that I protect her too much.
But I have seen the world, and even I am scared to leave home.

My daughter hates me
because I want to be a dad.
Because I care enough to discipline her
and not let her drift apart.