Was Ben a good father?

The ambiguity of his character, the serious flaws alongside the strengths, made this a very interesting and thought provoking movie. His children loved him fiercely, but were also aware of problems they would face as they grew up.

Having his children stealing probably isnt that best way too go lol

Pros:

Healthy, they are not overweight and have physical attribute of athletes, can do alot of things grown ass men can't do.

Educated, as seen with their cousins about the bill of rights and the older kid got accepted by all the best colleges in america.

Survival skills.

Happy, they eat, learn and sing together.

Cons:

Socially awkward, as seen with the older kid's first kiss and stealing from the mall. They father never taught them how to live in society.

Does not keep safety in mind, the girl almost paralyze, the boy claiming the mountain breaking his hand.

In conclusion, he's a good a dad as any and better than most, but no one is perfect and we all have our flaws. I wish my dad had taught me half the things Ben did with his children.

imo yes. I'd much rather be around people like his kids than the two douchey cousins. The two douchey cousins are basically the default American kids.

He was misguided about the stealing, which I don't morally agree with unless you're broke and starving. Then again, I take a much bigger issue with the global banks committing fraud out in the open, since the damage done by that is at least a trillion times bigger than shoplifting, so I think prioritizing is a good thing.

The rock climbing, I don't know enough about to make a judgment. The youngest boy might have been a stretch, but the rest that he took out were already young adults. You could judge that he was forcing them to do it, but do you judge everything else kids are forced to do in the real world? I, for one, would have much rather been taken rock climbing than forced to go into the government daycare centers, the intellectual vacuums full of douchey morons that are US schools.

The knives were maybe a bit much for an 8 year old girl, but then again, who knows. Maybe it's bad, but giving kids high fructose corn syrup might be just as bad, or worse. There's no such thing as perfection. Since the dawn of humans, humans have been imperfect. But, if we're going to decide what are the optimum child rearing conditions in binary terms, then it should be decided around the best scientific data we can muster, not emotional reactions.

Why can't you be a non-conformist like everyone else?

Yes.




“Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance."

I think he is a good father, but he was just too extreme in his beliefs, the same way conservatives can be too extreme in theirs. I am a liberal and we don't attend church, but we still teach our son how to survive without wifi and video games. We garden, we can our veggies, we own guns and knives, we even make our own wine. To me it is important to find a balance. You get them for 18 years and you hope you will have taught them when they leave that they can be prepared for any situation. Sure they were prepared to live solely on land, but seeing his son being awkward with the girl at the campground is why social skills are also needed.

I don't think you can ever live completely off the grid in an industrialized lawful nation. I think in order for that to work you have to be completely isolated. If you research the North Sentinelise islanders, they have rejected anything but hunting and gathering, and they will kill you if you get anywhere near them and shoot arrows at helicopters and planes flying over the island. They have their own law and order that can not be penetrated by outsiders.

I don't see anything wrong with giving his kids hunting knives if he's educated them all on how to use them. Children can be more capable than we give them credit these days. History should demonstrate that.

Taking them rock climbing is harmless as well in my opinion. Accidents can happen, sure, but they can happen anywhere, even walking down the street. What bothered me about the rock climbing scene was the lack of safety, no radios, no backup lines, no safety nets, no easy, quick and safe way down. Had those parameters been met, I wouldn't object to it for even the smallest children. The older children though, if they're experienced, why not? People take their children rock climbing even now and without much safety.

Theft is obviously wrong. And the attempted breaking and entering was wrong.

He had good aspects and bad aspects. At the end, he merged the best of both worlds so that they can grow healthy and fit in.

The cold winds are rising. Winter is coming.

This is a very good question