minna

bramblepatch:

suchirolle:

First of all, anyone who says Dirk and Roxy are neglectful parents…

GO GET YOUR EYES CHECKED.

Sure, at first it’s what it seems like. But at the Acts progress, you can see that they would risk their lives for Rose and Dave. Dirk cut up a meteor for him, and Roxy left her beloved martini behind to fight monsters for her. And the sad part is, both are misunderstood by their children.

When their alpha selves were introduced and we sort of got to know their personalities more, it started getting clearer. Dirk wasn’t being ironic at all. Maybe, actually. He was being sincere to the point of being ironic. Oh, you know how it is with the Striders! Dirk watched Dave 24/7 and did constant strifes with him with the intention of making Dave stronger. Even as ridiculous as camping  near the washroom and attack the lil man whenever he wakes up during midnight to pee. 

Roxy loves Rose deeply. Their passive-aggressive strifes are all just games to her. She spoils Rose every chance she got, and she treasures every “ironic” gift Rose gives her. But Rose doesn’t believe that her mother loves her at all. The ornate frame on the fridge of her lovely note? It’s for irony. The bronzed vacuum cleaner? It’s also for irony’s sake. Jasper’s funeral? Oh, of course it’s for irony. However, in reality, all of those are done with sincerity. Roxy just wants to adore Rose. She felt guilty about killing Jaspers, also since he was her friend in the years Rose died in the alpha, there is guilt in her actions - even if she may or may not be aware of it. 

Dirk and Roxy love their children deeply and they would do everything for them.

And that is all that matters.

Whoa. Hey.

The tragedy of the Beta Derse family is that Dave and Rose’s upbringings were incredibly neglectful and abusive. They had to be. You don’t raise a Sburb-ready kid in modern society without pushing them hard in ways that kids are not meant to be pushed - healthy levels of trust and whimsy got John killed.

This isn’t to say that Dirk and Roxy didn’t care about their kids. I doubt either of them would have wanted to raise them that way, given a choice, but they weren’t given a choice. They were ill-equipped to raise children - Roxy has one hell of an alcohol addiction and seems married to her job; Alpha!Dirk expressed doubt that he would be suited to childrearing and I doubt that Beta!Dirk was any more pleased to find an infant on a dead horse in place of his favorite record store. I doubt he was much more than eighteen or twenty at the time, maybe younger - much older, and he wouldn’t have been able to pass Dave off as his brother rather than his offspring.

And from these unfavorable beginnings, they still managed to raise one hell of a pair of warriors. It was really hard on Rose and Dave, and doubtless on Roxy and Dirk as well. They sacrificed their chance at a normal, healthy relationship with their kids because they had to. After all, A mother will do what is best for her children, and Were making this hapen.

oh my actual fucking god

Dirk and Roxy love their children deeply and they would do everything for them.

And that is all that matters.

my biological father loves the shit out of me and even now i have absolutely zero doubt that he would move heaven and earth to help if i was in trouble

and yet, he’s still an abusive piece of shit!

LOVING PARENT =/= GOOD PARENT

GOOD PERSON =/= GOOD PARENT

LOVING YOUR CHILDREN IS NOT ALL THAT MATTERS

IT IS NOT EVEN CLOSE

eta: ah haha okay uh to be clear

this isn’t me shitting on everyone who wants to make arguments for why roxy and dirk aren’t shitty parents

it’s me shitting on anyone who thinks “but they love them!” is a valid argument