Plots, news hit home once you're parenting

Having a child changes people's perspectives--and that spills over to TV and news

Date published: 2/27/2007

W HEN YOU root for the too-often-hapless Washington Redskins or the Boston Celtics--who have lost 28 of their last 31 games as of this writing--crying is always an option.

But it's not my favorite sports teams that have upset me the most recently.

It's well-made feature films about fathers.

Let me explain.

Ever since my son was born in May, my wife has cringed at news reports or TV shows depicting violence or hardship involving children of any age. So we turned off "Grey's Anatomy" the other night when the camera focused on a frightened child.

Cable news shows are also nonstarters if they speak of abduction or traffic fatalities involving minors. Medical-mystery programs are the exception to this rule, but only so long as everyone gets well in the end.

On the other hand, this kind of stuff doesn't bother me. I don't look for Jackson to be involved in a newsworthy catastrophe, though I am glad to sign him up as a baby actor in "Grey's" if they pay enough, despite the fact that I'm actually partial to "ER" in the Thursday-night hospital wars.

No, I have to fight back the tears when I see movies about fathers encountering difficulty rearing and providing for their children. That problem is scarier to me because it seems so much more real.

Will Smith's "The Pursuit of Happyness," while it has a happy ending, was especially troubling. A scene in which Smith's character, Chris Gardner, and his son, played by Smith's real-life son, spend the night in a subway bathroom because they're homeless was one of the saddest things I've ever seen.

I also recently ran across the 2001 flick "I am Sam," in which Sean Penn portrays a man with the intelligence of 7-year-old who has to fight for custody of his daughter because authorities don't believe he can properly care for her.

Now, my family is not homeless, and no one is trying to take my son away. But these scenarios seem a heckuva lot more possible for the everyday parent than does a gruesome story that would lead a national newscast.

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Date published: 2/27/2007