Obviously Kitty was a terrible mother but was Abe a much better parent?
I do love the character obviously and obviously Kitty is much worse but was Abe truly great either? Firstly it was both him and Kitty who absolutely sheltered Stevie at the beginning. That’s not good parenting at all. Had Malcolm not had encouraged his independence Stevie would’ve been so sheltered from the big bad world all his life and then what would’ve happened when Abe and Kitty died? The world would have hit him like a brick. I know people who had a similar upbringing but it has not worked out for them at all. And let’s not forget the fact that he had divorced Kitty for two months without telling Stevie. He had fully convinced Stevie that Kitty was coming back the next day and only they hadn’t all gathered at Malcolm’s house for Dewey’s birthday what would’ve happened then? Would Abe have kept the lie going? And the fact he not only tried to get Malcolm to break the news to him about Kitty not coming back for him but also tried to blame him for pushing Stevie to be more independent? That doesn’t exactly scream father of the year to me.