"I Had Her Full Time. Then I Let Her Go." — Daniel's Back

Daniel's back — and this time he's carrying something different.Since the last time we talked, he went from splitting custody two weeks on, two weeks off to becoming the primary custodial parent for his twelve-year-old daughter. He held it through a serious accident. He held it through the dance runs, the school schedule, the sixteen-year-old closed door and the headphones.Then he made the decision to send her back to her mother.This one goes somewhere neither of us planned. It starts as a custody conversation and turns into something else — why fathers want so badly to be the first call, what's actually underneath that want, and the shame we carry over a family we were never going to get to have.We also get into the decisions parents make that cost them and benefit their kids, the double standard around who gets to be the primary parent, and what it sounds like when your child tells you a truth you have no answer for.If you've ever wondered whether letting go can be the more fatherly choice, start here.