My father has an explosive temper. 85 percent of the time he can be funny and caring but the rest of the time he is either ranting at something he has seen on the news, shouting at my mother or exploding. Our family have generally accepted this but since I am now pregnant something inside me has snapped a bit. As nice as he can be sometimes, I am worried about the impact his rages will have on my son. As a child, my father beat me a lot as a form of discipline. I would often run upstairs and lock myself in the bathroom, he would chase me in there and bang on the door. I would often worry he would break the door down. He was always apologetic after but the cycle continued throughout my childhood. The last beating was when I was 19 and came home from Uni, he accused me of breaking the TV and punched me repeatedly in the head and back. He hasnt touched me since then, but as I said, still has his angry outbursts. I have mentioned how hurtful these incidents were to him as an adult and he appears to have forgotton conveniently all of them and denies them.
I don't really know what to do now. Now I am going to be a parent, for the first time I realise how wrong his behaviour was. He can also shout at my mother frequently over minor things and they argue. Not nice to listen to.
However, in the past few years we have had developed a really good friendship. As I said, when he's nor angry or shouting he can be very nice to talk to. Has anyone had any experience of dealing with a raging parent ? I feel like I want to protect my son from him, but also want him to experience the good things my father has to offer.