Do you consider Hank Hill to be a good dad?

Do you consider Hank Hill to be a good dad?

No.

A better dad than most dads on TV, sure.

But not a good dad. When he makes it incredibly obvious to everyone involved that he doesn't like being around his son, to the point that said son constantly fears that his dad doesn't love him, it speaks volumes to his parenting.

The only father character better than him in any comparable animated series is Bob Belcher.

Its in the literal pilot of the show about how much hank loves bobby no matter how much weird stuff he does.

Good? Probably not, but he does put in the effort to try.

Bob's definitely the best dad.

Hank is a great dad. He's weirded out by Bobby's interests and doesn't understand him but he tries to relate as much as he can.

>Its in the literal pilot of the show about how much hank loves bobby no matter how much weird stuff he does.
Yes, but one of the biggest points of the show is that what you say and what you do can be two very different things. I'm not saying Hank was lying, far from it, but when that one instance is compounded by several episodes worth of Hank not giving Bobby any kind of affection because it makes him feel uncomfortable (or worse, because Bobby wasn't behaving in a way Hank deemed "acceptable"), it can seem like Bobby's fears are in some way justified.

Children need praise and to be shown that they're loved. Obviously it's a bad idea to go overboard with it, but Hank's parenting goes the opposite route by refusing to acknowledge whenever Bobby does something worth merit, unless it's something he would have done himself. I mean, the fact that "Dangit, Bobby" and "That boy ain't right" are straight up catchphrases for Hank says a lot (and I will be fair and admit that at least half of the time the utterances of those phrases are justified, since a boy who totally buys into a neo-Wiccan cult is most certainly ain't right).

>"That boy ain't right" are straight up catchphrases for Hank says a lot
He rarely says that actually.

>Let bobby grow the roses and praised him for what he did, apologized for trying to get him to hide it and let him plant them on the lawn he treasures
>Praised bobby for when he learnt to do housekeeping work since he was good at it.
>Supported him when he did the organic gardening shit, told him how proud he was of him when he saw his initiative to get everyone else working behind him
>Tried his hardest to get over his fear of shooting to make sure his son knew it wasn't his fault he didn't want to go shooting


Oh no, he didn't let bobby drink dog blood or be a fat underwear model. What an awful father.

He's a good man with integrity, but his inability to relate to his son and adapt to the times makes him an incompetent father. But he's doing his best.

I'd feel part of that is because of his own rocky relationship with Cotton. The other part is just inconsistent writing.

>Literally used a ventriloquist puppet as a surrogate son, up to the point where his wife had to point out how fucked up it was
>Refused to acknowledge Bobby's potential as a stand-up comedian, even interpreting Bobby selling a joke to Yakov Smirnov as "he made up another story and stole money from my wallet", while simultaneously pushing and praising his girlfriend for being good at bluegrass fiddle
>Got straight up pissed off when Bobby refused to get the shit kicked out of him as the team's mascot and supported all the bullying Bobby received right up to the point when Bobby figured out how to "redeem" himself
Again, I'm not saying Hank's a bad father. I'm saying he's not a GOOD father. He exists in the middle ground between "good" and "bad". He has serious faults, faults that affect his relationship with Bobby, but those faults don't DEFINE him, either. For every "Don't play soccer because I hate it", there is a "Dog dancing is pretty alright, boy".

Also, and I mean this with as little meming as possible, I don't understand why you're getting upset that I am arguing against Hank being called a "good dad".

Well, I don't know. He's not like the average southerner dad I see in Texas. He's protective of his son but not overprotective.

I'm sure he'd be a great dad if he was my day.

He's an alright dad. He's right in the center of the curve. Definitely not great, but I wouldn't call him a bad father.

Of course, why wouldn't he be?

Well not a bad father but he's also the guy who gets disappointed by the fact his son is so funny and likable bullies don't pick with him and become his friends instead.

Legit the best dad in any animated show

He has his good points and bad. Sometimes he can be outright messed up to Bobby. Replacing him with the dummy and constantly talking down to him in Branson were a bit fucky.

Even the episode where he nearly talks Joseph into shooting a Panda?

in the Animated Fox carttons? probably yes, he has a lot of naive prejudice but he was looking the best for his son without being a Dale.

The second best dad is obviously Bob Belcher

Not really, though that's really a result of his shitty role models growing up. It's all he knows, it's a shame that he didn't try and learn more from Dale in terms of parenting.

Dude just wasn't raised to be an openly emotional and empathetic creature.

Yes. Not perfect but ultimately a good dad.
He ultimately has his son's best interests at heart, and very rarely has ever endangered him and in those circumstance it typically stems from ignorance rather than malice. And more often than not he usually ends up doing right by Bobby.
His only real issue is he's very stubborn and has a hard time empthizing with other people leading to him assuming they understand where he's coming from, and then becoming frustrated and confused when they run counter to him when they don't understand where he's coming from.

What is a good father? Is he always the best kind of dad all the time? Honestly I am going with a no, because that's not a good dad. That's just a perfect role model that you haven't seen his bad side yet.

Hank is a good father, he cares about his kid and he just wants his son to learn how he learned, though some of the shit that he does is kinda a bit fucky and stupid. But that's like every father. Every father has at least said one thing or did something that's stupid.

This.
Bobby is beyond Hank's understanding, but Hank fucking tries and he keeps trying.

Me personally? No. He doesn't seem to understand the world outside of his little box that he created for himself as a coping mechanism for living with Cotton. He constantly shits on almost everything Bobby's into because he thinks its weird or unmasculine (Not to fully excuse Bobby though because he's just a weird kid) I draw the line at genuinely getting angry at his own son for being into Soccer and being afraid to be jumped by a rival football team over a tribal ass mascot "tradition"

Nah he's a pretty bad dad.
Loving but he's constantly trying to get his son to do stupid shit.
He legitimately buys into peer pressure, ironic given he had a whole episode where he despises peer pressure because he learned what can happen when you think you're Mr. Popular and really you're just a sideshow freak.
He tried to abandon Joseph to rich people because he thought they'd give him a better life.
Checked himself into a Mental Institution when Joseph started sexually experimenting.
And is in general such a nuisance at his house that his wife is physically and mentally exhausted trying to keep him from killing or bankrupting them....which in turn keeps her from becoming a megalomaniac.

...

He tries, but no.

He's basically a dinosaur who barely manages to function in modern times, and his holier than thou attitude is hypocritical at best.

Man, what kino this series would be if it wasn't produced by fucking fox

He sticks around and supports his family without beating on his wife and son, I'd say that's about as much anyone can ask despite his hang ups and flaws.

Kind of an issue when the best thing you can say about someone parenting skills is that they're not an abusive criminal.

He's not a great dad, but he does better than his father before him. Sometimes that's all you can hope for, OP.

This is correct.
Despite his stodgy, traditional ways, Hank ultimately accepts Bobby for who he is and loves him all the same while still teaching him about life. That's really the best a father can be.

Hank is a fantastic dad. He gets frustrated with his son but in his defense, Bobby is extremely weird. Hank still loves his son. Compare to almost any other dad on TV. Not just cartoons, also sitcoms. They're all either literally retarded or assholes. Hank is neither.

I don't know how he does it. I would have honestly killed Bobby because of how annoying and dumb he is holy shit, what a useless son.

He’s a great Dad, even if he makes mistakes

So many Bob's Burgers characters are sorta Loren Bouchard's "improved" takes on those archetypes.
>Workaday father who is eccentric about his work but still the most levelheaded member of the family/cast

>Linda has Peggy's quirkiness, irresponsibility, lack of a filter, and instigates a lot of the family's problems - but manages to come off as endearing instead of annoying.

>Teddy is Bill, but his life is slightly less depressing because, well, Gayle exists to be the butt of depression jokes.

>Gene is Bobby-by-way-of-Jason-from-Home-Movies, Tina is horny adolescent Joseph gender-flipped, and Louise, well, Louise is what happens when you put Dale and Boomhauer in a little girl.

I don't think 'incompetent' is the right word here. I mean, he's not perfect at relating to his son, but if you think Hank is incompetent, then you probably led a sheltered life.He's very capable and clearly demonstrates his love for his son several times.

>He gets frustrated with his son but in his defense, Bobby is extremely weird.
Well, whose fault is it that his son doesn't meet his expectations? I do think that you can do everything right and still have your kid turn out shit due to genetics, chance, and/or 'free will', but it's pretty clear that part of the fact that Bobby doesn't act and think the way Hank would want him to is that Hank is simply bad at communicating his values and lessons to his son. Granted, he had a horrible role model, so he definitely did a good job given the circumstances, but I don't think you can just say "poor Hank, not his fault Bobby doesn't meet his expectations." If he had raised him more sternly, he would be more driven, like Connie. And no, I don't think Kahn is a good role model either, but I just bring him up to show that, within the show, it's obvious that nurture plays a big role.

Not exactly, I think he is a step up from those guys who think that they are good dads just by virtue of having jobs and bringing in money and then do nothing else at all.

However, I do think that he really should have understood that he needs to lay off of the fact that his son isn't going to become the captain of the football team and try to help him direct his youthful energy elsewhere instead of letting the boy drift from thing to thing.

yes

Hank ain't perfect but he's a big step up from how cotton raised him. He clearly struggles with expressing his love for his son because his father never really expressed it to him, but he also sees that it's a problem and makes an effort to be more in spite of how difficult it is for him.

Yes. He's not a perfect dad. But he's always there and he tries. That's all any one can ask.

>Even the episode where he nearly talks Joseph into shooting a Panda?

To be fair. That panda was a total asshole.

He's doing his goddamn best and that's really all you can ask for from a person.

His own father was very harsh and belligerent and never seemed to acknowledge any of his achievements him his whole life, I'm surprised hank turned out as stable as he is. On the other hand cotton hill seems to praise bobby for breathing air

I don't think he's a top teir dad but he is a good person.
He's not the best parent to Boby and fundamentaly doesn't know how to deal with him half the time. This doesn't mean he's a bad person, hanks a great guy, and he genuinely wants to be a good father, which is why we associat him with one.
But all and all he's just kinda average, not a great dad, not a shity one, and that fits Hank perfectly.
Peggy on the other hand can go fuck right off a cliff.

He tries his best to be a good father to Bobby.

Considering what his own father was like, he's the best tv dad.

>I don't think Kahn is a good role model either

You can do worse as a dad than Kahn.

I don't think he's a good father but I also don't think he's a bad father.

If Cotton treated Hank like Hank treats Bobby he would've been the best dad ever, a marysue even.

>Louise is what happens when you put Dale and Boomhauer in a little girl

PHRASING