#sorry you asked the WRONG PERSON about father hood ladhkajkdh

[batfamscreaming]

fic writer who asked for advice on writing bruce: the angle im taking is "more than anything, bruce is meant to be a father". hes a father figure in everything he does and i want that to be a focal point in my fic. yeah hes undoubtedly badass and accomplished but children are never afraid of him. more than anything, batman was birthed bc of compassion. thats what i want to write.

I started writing out a whole thing about parenthood but honestly it might be better than my computer ate it. But basically, instead of defining Bruce’s personality, you’ll be better off defining ‘fatherhood’.

I think that most people can agree that parenthood has a few necessary traits:

Attempt to protect children

Attempt to provide food and shelter for children

Place children in priority above the self (most of the time)

Teach everyday needs (usually manners and customs than algebra, but some parents ARE algebra teachers)

if All those traits aren’t in place, it’s probably not a parent. (but if you add in compassion and love, you get parenthood, which is maybe the difference between fatherhood and sperm donerhood)

I think what’s standing out in your ask is “ hes a father figure in everything he does” and “children are never afraid of him”

The thing I’m posing is this: not all abused kids hate their parents. sometimes, when someone takes away their abusive parent, that person is the villain in the scenario. Especially if the removal is violent and the child is right there to see it. If both parents are removed, the most likely paths will be foster care or homelessness. It’s easy and it makes sense to hate and fear someone putting you in that situation. So maybe the kid runs.

How do you chase a child and not scare them?

How do you turn that situation around into trust?

Bruce can’t adopt literally everyone in a bad situation (monetarily he can, but realistically he cannot parent that many people in a day), and Jason got adopted and was head over heels for a new pop, but how do you parent someone you may not ever see again? What about someone in juvy who’s in no place to trust anyone? Someone who’s been let down too many times? When he sees young adults with addiction knowing it’s a downward spiral but figuring it’d at least be nice to cushion the blow, knowing it will be even harder to turn it around-- and a process that takes years sometimes and you really need consistent support.

He doesn’t have to have a perfect, concrete answer to these situations, but I’m sure he’s encountered them on patrol in Gotham. Family (the ones you like) are meant to be the first line of defense when things come crashing down, and for someone like him who grew up with barely a thread to hold onto, I’m sure he wants to protect them. But either he pulls out a miracle cure, or he has to deal with the guilt of not parenting people who need it, right? Or does he just clamp down tighter over his own little family and try to separate them from the rest of the world and ensure they don’t endure what he’s seen out there? Does he project things he’s seen on the kids and miss their actual issues, or does he care so much sometimes people trust him, but they still don’t know if they want to tell him things?

I guess I’m thinking of when you’re driving down the road and you see a kitten on the side and have the instinct to pull over and pick them up, and then you have to ask if this new thing will end up hurting your current kids just by having one too many. parenthood feels like a series of very hard choices, and Bruce is admittedly very good at either making hard choices, or at finding a third option. So maybe he does strive for that miracle cure.

...I hope any of this was helpful, instead of just depression. I do however have a request that Bruce explains periods to one of his kids because I do very much want to see adult men (father figure is a bonus) who know about periods and are just chill about it. Like. Not even like “oh yeah i’m FEMINIST i know about PERIODS” but just like “ah. your bodily function has begun. you good? do you know what’s happening? hm. well. First of all let’s buy you a bidet and get you some pads but then we’re going to learn about uterine walls today.”

#i am very sorry if i rambled i hope you can find something in there that helps #sorry you asked the WRONG PERSON about father hood ladhkajkdh #no one else is as aggro as me about fathers apparently i just have some complaints #batman #bruce wayne #beatext #abuse mention #child abuse mention #drug mention #parenthood #i am only good at practical mother henning i'm not sure about emotional #but the attempt is important #even if it's just ur cats #Anonymous