I never knew my dad. I was raised mostly by an aunt who worked late and an uncle who worked third shift at a chemical plant. As a result I was a latchkey kid. When I did see my mom and sis it was almost always because i'd done something to piss my aunt off and was running to her to get away from some punishment. My aunt kidnapped me from my mom pretty much-threatening her with pulling financial help. All because she and my grandmother on my dads side didn't like my mom and sis and felt I belonged with them. They poisoned me against my mom and sis and it's ended up with me not being as close to my sister as I could have been had I not had all that bs in my head for so long. At any rate it's important for a kid to have a loving, supportive person in their life. They don't have to be a dad or a mom and dad. They can have two moms, two dads, an aunt, an uncle or even someone not related to them. As long as they're responsible, kind, supportive, loving and accepting that kids going to have a better chance at making it in an all too harsh world. Seeing as it's fathers day. though I thought I'd put some of my own experience with having a dad into words as best I could.

Btw I put 'any' in the gender tab as fathers come in a multitude of varieties.