I need a dad's POV

a combo of #1 and #5

it would be more like "You're coming with me." (to psychic) to go look for her

by the hair if necessary...

I posed this to the Old Man. He said, pretty much all of them

Guilty, suspicious of the psychic, panicky about the baby ( we've actually had the revive scenario here, believe me panic is a mild word for it) panic for the daughter 'OMG let's go look for her now'. He'd make sure the psychic didn't leave his sight though.

Basically he'd be all over the shop.

This father of an almost three year old daughter would pick 5) other.

I'd make certain the rest of the story was about a brainbashed psychic who most certainly got harmed by a 42 year old psychotic father, who even though he intended the violence to last for much longer, sadly had to accept that you can only mutilate and kill someone once.

Basically: don't mess with parents and their kids if you expect reactions that are in any way rational.

I have a background in computer systems administration, so it REALLY doesn't get much more sensible and boring than that

Sten

Firstly, I would never hit my wife. So this point of view takes that out of the equation.

Let's just say the psychic gets in the house and revives the one month old. I am forever grateful, so that would make the next point interesting. How could I believe she would be involved in the 3 year olds going missing in the first instance if she just saved my newborns life.

So, tell the wife to call cops - yet know she couldn't in the hysteria (happened before with an ambulance situation for my baby). So grab the phone and start searching. Wife would be outside knocking on every door. I'd stick to the house because of the baby. Once I'd starting thinking it through, I would start to think psychic was involved. If I read her body language that she was, I'd hold her by the throat against a wall until she told me where my child was. This would be resolved before the cops turned up.

JJ

I'm not a father (obviously) but I think the scenario is impossible for some people to put themselves in. A lot of husbands out there would NOT be violent to their wives, no matter what. Now if the wife was hurt in some sort of accident, i.e.: she was ticked off, hubby was yelling, she wanted to get away, ran down stairs and tripped, or some such incident, maybe that could be more empathetic for a lot of guys.

And I my sister has had to revive a child and I have had to search for a missing one, and I can tell you what little I've learned is that you never know how you're going to react unless it actually happens. I think in this situation, my husband would immediately call the police and not let the psychic leave his sight as he searched for the daughter, but he wouldn't have any reason not to call them because he wouldn't be violent toward me.

Wow, I found myself in that exact situation once. You know what I did?

1. Kicked the psychic's ass until he told me where my daughter was. Then I killed him.
2. Apologized to my wife profusely before she kicked me out of the house.
3. Went to a bar, got drunk, then picked a fight with a guy who was obviously much bigger and stronger. Got my ass kicked.
4. Passed out on the sidewalk outside the bar. Woke up in jail.
5. Spent the next 10 years working outside the law trying to get my life back by helping innocent victims of senseless violence through vigilantiism.
6. Finally found a 12-step program and a good psychotherapist/women's rights advocate who eventually became my best friend.
7. Found out my psychotherapist/best friend was in love with my ex-wife.
8. Realized my ex-wife was much happier with my best friend.
9. Joined a monastary.

Now I make excellent chesse.

Greenwolf103 said:

You believe that your wife has been brainwashed by a money-hungry psychic who's out to harm your 3-year-old daughter. The tension escalates to violence in the home and, even though you DID NOT intend any violence, it happened during an argument. Meanwhile, you're trying to awaken your month-old son, who isn't responding.

Now said psychic is in the house. Said psychic revives baby. And informs Mom and Dad their little girl is missing. (In the excitement with the baby not waking up, nobody checked on her.)

Do you:

1) Say "well, geez, we need to go look for her!" and do so.

2) Say "no, she's sleeping in her room" and refuse to believe otherwise until you go in the room to check for yourself.

3) Focus inward, so ravaged by guilt you can't really respond to very much else anybody is saying.

4) Call the cops (despite just having been violent to wife) and report an "intruder" in the home and suspect the psychic has kidnapped daughter.

5) Other?

What would you dads out there do?

I know, it's mostly depending on the kind of person my character is, but I still want to know what any SENSIBLE and LOGICAL father would do.
(P.S. My character is a skeptic and doesn't believe in psychics.)

Click to expand...

I am a dad.

I would not have let things get this far. If they had, I would not give a damn about bein arrested since my first duty is to my children.

So, in the circumstances and high-running emotions you describe, I would grab the 'psychic', frog march her to the daughter's room. If my little girl is missing, I (1) tell my wife to phone the police, and (2) while they are on the way, beat the #### out of the psychic until she tells me where my little girl is.

I'm going with 5) other too.

I'd never hit my wife. And I'd never get tired slapping the psychic who tried to mess with my family.

I'm not a dad, but I am a mom. If I was a skeptic, I'd choose #2. But then again, I'm not a panicky person, and neither is Hubby. We both generally try to maintain sanity until there is a reason not to.

Threaten my children and you are playing with my sanity switch; harm them and you have flipped it. Assuming the father has strong suspicions that the psychic is the perpetrator, I would verify that the child is missing, and choke the answer out of the psychic. A good lawyer would get me off.

Here's my take as a single woman with no kids on this situation.

1. Given the noise and excitement going on between the fighting and the infant, the three year old would most likely be freaking out one way or another. Most likely screaming his/her head off in fear and confusion at all the noise, etc. Chances are, the moment the 3 y/o starts crying/screaming, that's going to be heard by the parents and probably thrown into the fight. "Oh, look, you made the baby cry!"

The moment that crying stops, someone's likely to notice. Or if one spouse is working on trying to save the infant, the other one is probably trying to calm down the 3 y/o.

2. Given that the father is already suspicious of the psychic, the moment that psychic shows up at the house, s/he is probably not going to be anywhere near those kids. He probably is thinking that the psychic is the cause of the infant's collapse in the first place. First words out of the father's mouth are probably going to be, "Why are you here and what did you do to my kid?" Doesn't matter if the psychic is the cause or not - the father will blame him/her.

If the father turns around and finds the psychic in the house without being let in by him, the adrenaline from the fight and fright will kick in and a beating will ensue. The father is already pumped up from arguing with his wife and trying to save his child's life. A good lawyer will call it temporary insanity or at least self-defense. Most likely he'll get the father off because the father has previous concern over this psychic.

3. Given the parents are trying to save the baby, one of them is calling or already calling 911. That's gotten pretty ingrained in the US culture now, after so many years. Or since there are children in the house, it's already programed into the phone. Since an infant is involved, chances are the medics are already on their way or already there.

On one hand, things are going to be a mad-house between the fight and the medics. So the psychic could possibly make it into the house to get close enough to revive the infant. On the the other hand, the medics and/or police (who are likely to have also arrived given the noise/information the responders hear on the phone) are going to be one more obstacle for the psychic. The moment anyone hears the psychic say the 3 y/o is missing, that psychic is going to be the first suspect, no matter what. Especially since the father will probably have a restraining order placed against the psychic. That restraining order would have been slapped on the psychic the first chance the father would have gotten. Particularly with the father's suspicions regarding the psychic trying to harm a 3 y/o.

I have a three-year-old now and I can just picture it. Even though I consider myself a logical person I think I'd snap inwardly. First my entire world would fall apart. After a moment I'd get a hold of myself and completely take charge of the situation, refusing to let anyone else deal with it because I wouldn't be able to trust them. I'd target that psychic for sure.

dirtsider said:

Here's my take as a single woman with no kids on this situation.

Click to expand...

Ahhh...a well qualified opinion.


(Not that we don't value your input.)

Charlie Horse said:

Ahhh...a well qualified opinion.


(Not that we don't value your input.)

Click to expand...

Absolutely!! Why do you think I put that qualification in there?

I would beat the psychic for fun. Get a bull horn and yell for my daughter, then tell my wife I was sorry.

I definitely would not call the police. I would find a way to cleverly push the psychic out of my life, regardless of his motivations.

Also, I would try to get my wife on my side again.

Actually, I've been in a situation a little similar to this. One evening when my daughter was about three and my wife was out, my daughter almost stopped breathing. She started making a hideous noise like she was being strangled. I called 999 but by the time the ambulance arrived, she was breathing normally again. It turned out to be croup, which can kill.

At the time it was happening, I was just horrifically scared and felt like bursting out crying. Not sure what I would have done to a malign psychic, though.

As a dad, of a daughter:

Start with 2. Move quickly to 1, 4 (that's what cell phones are for.) and 5.
Drag psychic along with me. If unable to do that, make sure psychic is in no condition to leave before the cops get there (about 3 minutes at my house. The plastic zip ties in the drawer by the sink ought to do it.)

5 involves pain and misdirection after I find out that psychic girl/guy knows where my kid is. And for getting my boy away from Mom (yeah, I know more apologizing will be involved later.)

I'll have time for 3 later, and I'm sure I'll spend a lot of time there, even if I get my kid back.

Priene? 999? where are you? Hope all is well with your daughter now.

As a married father of two, I have to line up with the other dads. I can't imagine ever hitting my wife, period, however chaotic the situation got - you might want to think that bit over, if you want to keep reader sympathy for the guy. Any violence would be directed at the "psychic." First things first, though, I hit the panic button on the alarm system, then do whatever's necessary to keep the "psychic" around and talkative.

We keep our zip ties in the utility closet. They might be hard to get to in a crisis. Have to think about that.

Assuming all your points are inalterable, I would go with No. 4.

Charlie Horse said:

Wow, I found myself in that exact situation once. You know what I did?

1. Kicked the psychic's ass until he told me where my daughter was. Then I killed him.
2. Apologized to my wife profusely before she kicked me out of the house.
3. Went to a bar, got drunk, then picked a fight with a guy who was obviously much bigger and stronger. Got my ass kicked.
4. Passed out on the sidewalk outside the bar. Woke up in jail.
5. Spent the next 10 years working outside the law trying to get my life back by helping innocent victims of senseless violence through vigilantiism.
6. Finally found a 12-step program and a good psychotherapist/women's rights advocate who eventually became my best friend.
7. Found out my psychotherapist/best friend was in love with my ex-wife.
8. Realized my ex-wife was much happier with my best friend.
9. Joined a monastary.

Now I make excellent chesse.

Click to expand...

Hysterical!

Hmm, should one feel proud, sad or frightened by the single-minded response here? Asked by one of a mind as seen above...

Sten

Williebee said:

Priene? 999? where are you? Hope all is well with your daughter now.

Click to expand...

Norfolk, England. She's fine. Croup's an infection of the throat that mainly affects toddlers. If the inflammation is too bad, they stop breathing. Scared the wits out of me. I've been in car crashes that were less scary...