To be a successful father, there's one absolute rule: when you have a kid, don't look at it for the first two years.
The thing to remember about fathers is... they're men. A girl has to keep it in mind: They are dragon-seekers, bent on improbable rescues. Scratch any father, you find someone chock-full of qualms and romantic terrors, believing change is a threat, like your first shoes with heels on, like your first bicycle... If the relationship of father to son could really be reduced to biology, the whole earth would blaze with the glory of fathers and sons. My father hated radio and he could not wait for television to be invented so that he could hate that too. Life was a lot simpler when what we honored was father and mother rather than all major credit cards. Never raise your hand to your kids. It leaves your groin unprotected.