Health · Mental Health · 3 hrs ago
Fathers’ Regret Can Reflect What They Lost in Themselves
As children grow up and leave home, some fathers look back on the gap between the parents they hoped to be and the parents their children experienced.
That regret can be about how their choices affected their children, such as being absent because of work.
It can also be about what those same choices cost the fathers themselves.
A father who avoided his child’s emotions, for example, may recognize that he also avoided his own vulnerability.
A father estranged from an adult child may feel cut off from qualities he once hoped to bring to fatherhood.
The idea is that behavior that hurt a child can also hurt the parent who acted that way.
Recognizing these losses may help fathers reconnect with neglected parts of themselves and grow toward the people they still hope to be.
Fathers’ regret can involve both the harm they caused their children and the ways they neglected themselves.
A father’s workaholism, emotional strictness or high expectations may have affected both his children and himself.
The article says estrangement from an adult child can also leave a father disconnected from parts of his own identity.
Recognizing what they have neglected in themselves may help fathers reclaim parts of their identities and grow toward the fathers they hoped to be.
- Who
- Fathers reflecting on their parenting and personal lives.
- What
- The article discusses how paternal regret can be interpersonal and self-directed.
- When
- Not stated.
- Where
- Not stated.
- Why
- Fathers may recognize that behaviors that hurt their children also harmed or limited themselves.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
The very same behavior that may have injured their child also injured them.
This story does not have a timeline yet.
- Outlet
- Psychology Today
- Published
- 2026-10-11 19:56 UTC
- Types of regret
- Interpersonal and self-directed
- Examples
- Workaholism, intolerance of emotional vulnerability, and severe expectations
Sources
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