[WillowTheWhisp]

Oh no, I'm very much of the opinion that a father is important, sadly many people today don't seem to think so and the single mothers who see nothing wrong with using a "relationship" (I use that term loosely) in order to create a child have got their wires crossed just a little. I know of one father who has been excluded from all contact with his daughter. He knows she is his daughter and she knows he is her Dad but the mother and grandmother refuse to permit any contact.

I'm just using the facts of nature which are that a woman's ability to reproduce ceases at a certain age (for some this is earlier than others) whereas a man is capable of being a father much later in life.

I have friends where there is a fairly large age gap between the mother and the father. They have a large happy family. The father (no slippers and pipe for him) plays a very active role in his children's upbringing.