Accept him and offer your love to him. One day that will mean all of the world to the two of you. Been there, done that.

The same thing happened to me. I just tried to get to know him. we'll never be as close as my mom and i but my father isn't all that bad. Yours might not be either.

Exactly what you're feeling. There's no script for this. You have to write it.

I'd give him a chance.

It depends on why he has not been around and how you feel about him. Go with the flow as long as it does not upset the parent that has cared for you too much. I never really got to know my Father until he was very sick . It took until them because we were both very shy people and never talked out the situation.

Well, how do you want life to be for yourself? Do you expect people to give you a second chance? Life can only be that way for you if you make it that way for another. I'd say give him a chance, you may never be really close, but it'll probably still be better than not having a relationship with him at all.

Give him a chance. He might be genuinely trying to get his life together.

I agree with Singwell ... Ask him How's job, what has he been up to ... just general questions... and tell in general about yourself. Help him out and may be it will be good for both of you on the long run.

How about you just give him the benefit of the doubt and go from there? I have not seen my three children by my first wife for YEARS because of the actions taken by my ex. Every time I would try to see my kids early on, she would make all kinds of accusations which I would end up having to spend thousands of dollars in attorney/court costs fighting, just to get to see my kids again. And then, just when I'm making headway, she would move to another state and start it all over again. I couldn't handle the financial burden, the emotional strain, the psychological pain, and the physical effort of keeping up with travelling litterally tens of thousands of miles every year fighting this. Not to mention all the time it required and how that affected my job. She literally made it absolutely impossible for me to keep up with everything...and to try would have meant I would have failed in my financial responsibilities as a father to my children and I would have been labeled a dead-beeat father for not being able to make my child support payments. I don't know what kind of a man your father is. But for me, the loss of my family and what happened afterwards was, among many things, nearly fatal to me. Believe it or not, there are people like my ex out there who will do every little vindictive, evil thing they can to get what they want in situations like this, even if it means completely destroying someone by grinding them down until they absolutely cannot meet their obligations (which is no excuse in the eyes of the law) or they end up killing themselves over it. So I let it go. I've NEVER gotten a reply to ANY letters, cards, or gifts I've sent. I've NEVER gotten a phone call, nor have I been able to call them. I pray that no matter what happens or has happened to them, that when they grow up they will realize that I can't have been too bad a guy if I've NEVER missed a single child support payment. I don't know what your situation is between yourself and your parents. Maybe it's similar to mine, maybe your father is a worthless piece of cr*p. But that's for the two of YOU to figure out. Give each other the benefit of the doubt. You may not be able to make up for all those years he wasn't there...but you can darn well learn about each other NOW and learn to like/love each other for who you are NOW. If you were one of my daughters or my son from my first marriage, a simple hug and "I missed you, Daddy!" would probably break me down and let it all out. Whatever you do, whatever happens, I wish you the best. Broken marriages are NEVER easy on anyone, especially the children. God bless.

Listen to what he says, the past is the past, tomorrow is the future, today is the present. You live for today, you have to decide if you want your father with you for the future generation. That's your choice alone.

Hi, Do I call you dad, or sir?

Been there done that. I just told him how I felt. That if he wanted to be apart of my life and get a chance to meet his grand children it might take years. He has to show me he's changed before I would accept him.

I'd give the guy a chance. That's not something that's easy to do. It's not something you just do someday because you're bored. I'll bet it took him some nerve to do that, and behind that nerve is a lot of heart and a need to know you. Don't doubt he loves you. Let him in!

it depends on the reason why he was apart...