Why is Worf a bad Dad?
- Thread starter Thanos007
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In TNG he was trying. But he becomes a bad dad when he goes to DS9 and doesn't see Alexander for another two years.
His career and his perception of who he was was more important than his child. Despite what Worf might say and occasional affection, Alexander was in Worf's way.
After making a half-ass attempt to be a part time father, he shipped Alexander off. First to his adopted parents, then to a Klingon boarding school.
Out of sight, out of mind.
After making a half-ass attempt to be a part time father, he shipped Alexander off. First to his adopted parents, then to a Klingon boarding school.
Out of sight, out of mind.
I think the DS9 episode dealing with it solves the conflict way too quickly to be realistic...then again, I certainly didn't want to spend any more time watching Worf and his kid bitch at each other. Klingons are annoying on their best day, and Worf is kind of a stick-in-the-mud.
I'm still on Alexander's side, though. Poor boy.
I'm still on Alexander's side, though. Poor boy.
Yep, crappy parent.
Okay, timeline..
Worf didn't know about hime being born, thats Kelars fault, not his. when she is stabby stabby, he does take responsiblity, and takes alexander in.
For awhile he does try, and it would have been a good long term story on single parenting.. because at that time, childern were allowed on ship. but the writters probably just didn't know what to do with alexander.
when he chucked him towards his parents, that was a bad parent move. then kicked to a boarding school.. also bad parent move.
Could have just had him in the background, having the ocasional B plot have Worf teach Alexander about being a klingon, add to the backstory of klingons in general..
Not a fan of a number of star trek guys being dead beat dads.. Kirk, maybe Sulu, Worf, Sisko leaving his baby.. poor writing..
Okay, timeline..
Worf didn't know about hime being born, thats Kelars fault, not his. when she is stabby stabby, he does take responsiblity, and takes alexander in.
For awhile he does try, and it would have been a good long term story on single parenting.. because at that time, childern were allowed on ship. but the writters probably just didn't know what to do with alexander.
when he chucked him towards his parents, that was a bad parent move. then kicked to a boarding school.. also bad parent move.
Could have just had him in the background, having the ocasional B plot have Worf teach Alexander about being a klingon, add to the backstory of klingons in general..
Not a fan of a number of star trek guys being dead beat dads.. Kirk, maybe Sulu, Worf, Sisko leaving his baby.. poor writing..
I have no idea what the writers were thinking or what the plan/lack of plan might have been beyond writing a compelling story and let's face it, conflict between father and son is a well known and well used TV plot device. It was used in the show with other characters, either implied (with Picard), or in an actual episode (with Riker). However, I attribute Worf's less than ideal parental attributes to the fact that he didn't even know he had a son and then bam, there is Alexander right in front of him. It didn't help that he then had to take sole responsibility for the child. What I see on screen (and I don't care about non canon sources) is a guy who was completely unprepared to raise a child on his own and when he did try his attempts at parenting were forced and inflexible, although in TNG he would loosen up a little.
Had K'Ehleyr either taken the oath with Worf or let him know that she was pregnant, he may have been better prepared to be a father. However, his conflicts with K'Ehleyr on how to raise the child would have also led to issues between them so who knows?
Yeah, he got a pretty raw deal from a very early age
Regarding Kirk being a deadbeat dad, it seems clear that Carol didn't want him to be part of their lives, and Kirk respected that. I don't agree with that decision, either, but we can't put the full blame on Kirk.
Sulu... we have no idea what kind of parent he was. He may very well have been around for a lot of Demora growing up.
Sisko... I definitely do NOT call him deadbeat. He is the complete opposite of it. Starfleet is a risky business, and as such, he could be killed at any time. Calling Sisko a deadbeat dad because of what happened in the finale would be the same as calling a soldier in our military a deadbeat dad for getting killed while on a mission, and that is totally unfair and wrong.
Now Worf... this is the one area where I think he failed in pretty majorly. One could argue he gave Alexander to his grandparents as a matter of safety for him, since a starship is infinitely more dangerous than life on Earth, but I think that would be a hollow argument.
I think it's more likely he was so overwhelmed he had no clue what to do and just reverted to whst he knew best... duty, work, etc. It doesn't excuse it, but one thing that does mitigate it a bit is the fact that K'Ehleyr never told him about Alexander, and she should have. I think that would have made a difference in his parenting.
Sulu... we have no idea what kind of parent he was. He may very well have been around for a lot of Demora growing up.
Sisko... I definitely do NOT call him deadbeat. He is the complete opposite of it. Starfleet is a risky business, and as such, he could be killed at any time. Calling Sisko a deadbeat dad because of what happened in the finale would be the same as calling a soldier in our military a deadbeat dad for getting killed while on a mission, and that is totally unfair and wrong.
Now Worf... this is the one area where I think he failed in pretty majorly. One could argue he gave Alexander to his grandparents as a matter of safety for him, since a starship is infinitely more dangerous than life on Earth, but I think that would be a hollow argument.
I think it's more likely he was so overwhelmed he had no clue what to do and just reverted to whst he knew best... duty, work, etc. It doesn't excuse it, but one thing that does mitigate it a bit is the fact that K'Ehleyr never told him about Alexander, and she should have. I think that would have made a difference in his parenting.
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Pretty much this. I don't think Worf was a bad dad in the same sense we might think of most bad dads, it's just he wasn't ready to deal with what being a father might bring. Hell, he was still working out his own childhood traumas, trying to be more Klingon than Klingon, and it was filtered down to Alexander. He tried, and you could see he was trying very hard to do what was right and honorable, just failing at it.
I think, in the end, they both got a raw deal.
I'm not blaming the fictional characters.. I blame the writers for being lazy.. Oh we need a kid! Oh okay, lets have worf, kirk, (insert character) find out he had a kid.. and for David.. kill him in the next movie.. ugh.. "spoiler" 
I would like to see some stuff on a 1 parent household, showing them acomplishing it, giving people hope that everything will turn out right!
Well, originally, Sisko wasn't going to say I"ll be back.. he was just gone, but one of the writers didn't want Sisko to be a missing dad to there daughter, so the line was added. In the books he's a bit of a missing dad for awhile, but they fixed it. I just personally just don't like crappy writting when concerning dads and children in Star Trek.
I would like to see some stuff on a 1 parent household, showing them acomplishing it, giving people hope that everything will turn out right!
Well, originally, Sisko wasn't going to say I"ll be back.. he was just gone, but one of the writers didn't want Sisko to be a missing dad to there daughter, so the line was added. In the books he's a bit of a missing dad for awhile, but they fixed it. I just personally just don't like crappy writting when concerning dads and children in Star Trek.
Extra! Extra! Read all about it.
https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/was-worf-a-good-father.295995/
https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/was-worf-a-good-father.295995/
IIRC, it was Avery Brooks himself who insisted the line be put in.
I would say that Kyle Riker was at least as bad a father, if not worse, than Worf. Kyle was a total jackass. No wonder Will ran away.
As for Worf, at least he tried. The way I read it, Worf's problems were because:
- He wasn't raised in the Empire. He had human parents and so he didn't discover what it means to be Klingon until much later. And when he did, he became a grouchy "I am more Klingon than Klingons" who overcompensated all the time. We never really see how born and bred Klingon parents raise their children, so we have nothing to compare Worf to.
- Worf's relationship with K'Ehleyr was rocky at best. They never really had one. So all of a sudden Alexander shows up on his doorstep and Worf is expected to raise him alone. That's never a good starting point.
(With Jadzia, OTOH, Worf finally had the chance to have a wife who loved him and would always be there for him. They were into each other in a way that was NEVER the case with Worf and K'Ehleyr... If Worf and Jadzia had had a chance to raise a family, he would have been a damn good father to THAT kid.)
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I think being a senior staff member on a ship like Enterprise D/E is a full time job and so is being a good parent. you just can't be both at the same time. Take Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Picard, Riker, Troi... who among these was a good parent (during their stay on Enterprise that is)? Of course, you can point out Sisko or O'Brien as notable exceptions. But that's exactly what they are, exceptions. Sisko raised his son mostly while he was on a hiatus and then Jake raised pretty much himself on DS9. O'Brien wasn't a senior staff on Enterprise and then did a pretty routine job on DS9, with the occasional near-death experiences, not to mention the times when he died for good as a clone and then as an alternate self (unless you consider that he died and the alternate self is the one that lives).
So sure, Worf is probably a bad parent, but it seems that it comes with the territory.
So sure, Worf is probably a bad parent, but it seems that it comes with the territory.
Yes, that too. Worf never had that luck.
I am assuming you mean "Miles" and not that Keiko has been unfaithful...
I think he was overwhelmed suddenly having a sort of mouthy child.
I think
If had seen at least some of Alexander while the boy was growing up, it wouldn't have been so bad for him.
I don't think sending him to his relatives was all that bad nor boarding school either.
There are much worse things he might have done.
Not in Star Trek of course but the way people on Earth actually are.
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