I hate feeling awkward when I'm called a good dad, because I'm just being a dad.

As the title says. I have two kids, a boy (10) and a girl (6), I work full time but I make sure to be part of most of their activities. I also grew up poor with an older brother, which means I didn't go shopping for my own clothes until I was 13 and had outgrown my big-little brother. Even then it was mostly hand me downs until I got my own job at 16.Now I'm solidly middle class, with ability to take my kids shopping just because I feel like it. And I fucking love taking them shopping. Especially my little girl, and I'm good at picking out her clothes - I don't wanna float my own boat but I've perfected a "classy hippy" look that has earned me tons of compliments since she was a baby.Anyways, I did float my boat a little there, but the point is that I get complimented often on how good of a dad I am because I take them shopping or skating or to lazer tag. And all I'm doing is being a dad. I had a shitty dad who wasn't involved unless through a haze of alcohol, so I've just been doing what I would have wanted for myself.I'm just being what I think a dad should be. And I hate that it's apparently so uncommon that people have to tell me what a good dad I am. In my eyes I'm kind of an asshole because I'm strict with my kids, but people don't see that side. They see me taking them shopping or me with them at the park/skating rink/laser tag and think I'm that "on" all the time. They don't see my son screaming that he hates his life as he runs down the hall and slams his door (because he didn't do his homework so I won't let him play on his tablet) or my daughter crying uncontrollably and shrieking incoherently because the neighbor kid told her she couldn't be a mermaid robot and that sent her into an emotional whirlwind she doesn't understand.So anyway, shit, I've ranted. All I wanted to say was I don't feel like a good dad most of the time because I'm more often the bad guy enforcing rules than the cool guy taking them to do cool stuff. But maybe I'm just an awkward fucker. via /r/Parenting http://ift.tt/2nRhorz