The Young and the Restless - MESSAGE BOARDS

Paul, Jack, Malcolm, Victor...

All of the above men, at one time or another and/or at the present, were/are not involved in their childrens' lives...

Paul: Fatherhood to a young Paul was too much so he handed over parental rights to April to raise Heather. When she finds out Paul is her father, she resents him at first and struggled with the fact he wasn't in her life when she was growing up under the hand of an abusive stepfather. Paul also has a young son, Ricky whom he had with Isabella (who went to prison for attempting to kill Christine). Isabella's parents are raising Ricky in CA. Paul never visits him or has Ricky visit...does he want Ricky to resent him to as an adult later on? It didn't have to be that way.

Jack: He's the father of Keemo, now an adult son he had with Luan from Vietnam. Once he came back into his life, but never since. Jack also has a young son, maybe 6yr old by now (or older depending on soap aging) and he doesn't visit him or have him visit at all...he is praised by Sharon as a great "father" and father figure to Noah, but he's not even to his own biological son. It doesn't have to be that way.

Malcolm: He's the real biological father of Lily, who his brother Neil raises as his own daughter. It is known that Malcolm is her biological father, but yet he stays away, never contacts her and is not in her life...It doesn't have to be that way.

Victor: We all know what happened to Adam Wilson aka Victor Adam Newman Jr, now Adam Wilson again when Victor stayed away from his son with Hope because Hope didn't want Victor in their son's life and she married Cliff Wilson and he raised Adam as his son...Hope made a mistake, in my opinion and all the drama of Adam trying to fit into his real father's (Victor's) life, he's having extreme problems doing so...It doesn't have to be that way.

Families should get over divisions and put the child's needs first with good father figures playing a role in their children's lives...It doesn't have to be the OTHER way...

I dont see Jack or Paul being a deadbeat....they just dont have the s/l's with those children yet...but Jack and Paul do mention phone calls every now and then to Ricky and Kyle.
Lily has a dad..Neil..
Victor..sure he is a cold sob at times but i don't see him as a deadbeat..

I think as a viewer we must presume that Jack (who loves Kyle), and Paul, who feels Ricky is better off in a loving grandparent household take very good care and are very concerned about their son's welfare. Just because Kyle and Ricky are not current characters on the show, is no reason to think they are gone and forgotten by their fathers.

Victor was in Adam's life until Hope married Cliff. Cliff wanted to legally adopt Adam and raise him as his own. I don't remember if that came to pass or not. When Cliff died Hope told Victor she didn't want him in Adam's life. Hope should have told Adam when he was younger, he would have had a easier time adjusting to the fact. At 27 years old he has pretty much made up his mind about his father.

I'm afraid this will be an unpoplular response.

Soaps are supposed to mirror real life. In real life, there are a whole lot of dead beat dads.

I wish it weren't so, but it's a fact.

Twocentsworth, I honestly do understand your point. But, you named five children. As far as we know, three grew up without a father (Heather, Keemo and Jack's other son.) Two grew up with step-fathers (Adam and Lilly.)

Sounds depressingly realistic to me.

I forgot all about Jack's son Kyle. I remember Keemo and was disappointed when he left the show. I really liked the relationship between Jack and Keemo.

I also forgot about Paul's son Ricky. Is Heather and Ricky aware of one another? I thought when Heather came to town she asked her father if there were any other children that she did not know about and Paul answered no. I could be wrong.

I hope the writers expand on some of the bloodlines that have disappeared. Especially as they begin to build the next Y&R generation.

Unless these characters are written as deadbeat dads, they cannot be characterized that way. The writers make the scenes, give the lines etc.
Victor is more of a dead beat dad than any of them.