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Topic : 08/04 Daddy Drama

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Created on : Friday, April 25, 2008, 03:00:17 pm
Author : DrPhilBoard1
(Original Air Date: 04/29/08) Christina, 21, and her younger sister, Carlie, 13, say they had a close relationship with their father, Michael, until two years ago when he decided to transition to a female. Michael was a police officer, soldier and loving parent who lived his life as a male for 40 years. Now, he wants his daughters to call him Mom, because he says Dad is gone, but they refuse. Michael, who prefers to be called Kayla, says she wants to explain to her daughters why she's living as a woman, but they've never given her the chance. The last time Christina saw her father was two years ago when he showed up at her work in lace and blue jeans to break the news that he's transgendered. When she sees Kayla onstage, does she greet her with open arms? Next, Carlie joins her sister and father. She says she wants her old dad back, but will she feel the same after seeing Kayla? Can the father-daughter bond be turned into a mother-daughter one? Be prepared for an emotional journey as two daughters  struggle to understand how someone they say loved so much could hurt them so badly. Talk about the show here.

Find out what happened on the show.

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April 30, 2008, 6:54 am PDT

04/29 Daddy Dramas

Quote From: calmchris

Dr Phil was not rude at all. I being a real woman knows that a real woman would not have acted sooo cold to thier children if they were in that much pain. He says he cries more now being a woman....I cried more then HE did!! There are some things you just can't do because you are a parent.....changing your sex should be one of them!!!!

what difference does it really matter if you got indoor plumbing or out door plumbing why cant some one born with the wrong plumbing call a plumber and get it corrected,and not still love their children?
 
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April 30, 2008, 7:03 am PDT

Where have all the heroes gone?

Quote From: cyncritter

These children are being selfish. All their lives their father worked hard to provide for them and see to their every need. The very LEAST they can do to return all the love and devotion he gave them as a father figure is to accept him the way he has always accepted them--their quirks, their youthful indescretions--and love him no matter what.

It's not like gender changes aren't mainstream now. Thousands of people have made this change. It's time we all stop being selfish in what WE want, and start realizing that life doesn't revolve around each one of us... it just revolves, and we need to accept change when it happens. Why throw away a loving parent just because we have to look at them differently, and call him by MOM instead of DAD? The heart is still the same, and so is the love for the family.

Time to grow up.

You are so wrong!  Are you a parent?  Children are born to be selfish, especially as a child.  Those girls certainly don't need to grow up.  Are you aware of their tender and impressionable ages?  Unlike those precious girls I had an amazingly happy childhood and guess what?  My father was my hero.  Parents are given the responsibility to raise their children.  This is HUGE!!!  That means that you must sacrifice for the needs of your children.  You also nees to be a role model for them.  What are they learning from their father?  #1 Divorce, well we all know that that is a selfish choice.  #2 Their needs cannot be met until their father's is met?  How will they know what it takes when they become parents themselves.  We've lowered the bar in this world.  Haven't you noticed?  I blame people like you.  The world needs more Heroes and we are not going to get them with yso many people like you not wanting to be held accountable for their actions/decisions.  He made a conscious choice to get married and have children.  They had no choice.  It is his responsibility to carry out with his promises and that does not include denying his children the financial support that they need, just so he/she can continue to invest in changing his gender.  Wake-up!  He has irrevocably hurt these girls his own daughters and for this I'm sure that he will never find inner peace or true happiness.  My heart is aching for these poor girls as well as their mother and family that must pick up the pieces and move on.  Like my mother told me with regards to raising my own children, there are some people who's halos should never fall. 

 

 
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April 30, 2008, 7:11 am PDT

Shame on you Dr. Phil for attacking Kayla as severly as you did!

Quote From: wwhi255608

I feel that everyone was way too tough on Kayla!  Yes, even the children - sorry - I'm sure this isn't a popular opinion.  Here's my reasoning:  where were the two biological Mother's of these two children?  Setting in the audience - whining about child support money.  Yes, I know the show was about Michael but why didn't the two Mother's set with the girls?  It would seem to me that if these Mother's had done THEIR "job" right in the first place and approached Michael's "problem" with them in a loving/understanding/caring series of conversations they would perhaps have been able to accept their father and his condition with less selfishness and hatred on their part!!!  Those "children" were wwaaayy too selfish and uneducated to the situation and, again, I blame the two Mother's.  Perhaps Michael didn't handle this correctly (he said as much at the start of the show) - well - neither did those children's Mother's!  I could go on and on but this time, Dr. Phil, I feel you REALLY missed the boat on this one!  Shame on you for attacking Kayla as severly as you did.

For a person as great as you feel you are, I had not seen you get into the two wives! Why do I ask this of you? Did you ever think that it was because of these two women's hate for Kayla, did everything possible to make their daughters hate their dad?  Did you even think of asking the two ex -wives if Kayla did try to communicate with her daughters, only for the two-ex-wives never tell them of this.  There are so many questions you should of asked the two ex-wives, their mothers  brain washing their children to hate what their dad has done!

Don't throw stones until you know the ENTIRE STORY!!!! Lastly...Look at the show again and please tell me that Kayla did not show any emotion!  She held back her tears and feelings. Why... I'm not able to say why, but she was very much torn apart being victimized by you, Dr. Phil!  Look again at the video and look at the two ex-wives expressions... I didn't see them cry, Did you? What I saw on their faces were, mission accomplished, Our daughters hate him! 

Bring them back for part 2 Dr. Phil... Tear them apart like you had done with Kayla! you just may learn about "Hail hath no fury  like A Woman's Scorn!"

 
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April 30, 2008, 7:38 am PDT

04/29 Daddy Dramas

Quote From: gwarrior6

 

Why is it barbaric?  People's body parts are removed all the time surgically for any variety of reasons.  Cancer, mutilation, reconstruction, etc.  They're not using a machete for crying out loud!  This isn't something that she woke up one day and said "I think I'll be a lady today".  No, this is the product of years of feeling like a woman in the wrong body.

 

Therapy isn't going to "fix" her.  It'll help her with the transition and then help repair the relationships with her kids, that's the reason she should go to therapy, not because she needs to have emotions.  She's keeping her kids at a distance because she's afraid of rejection, which is understandable.  That's why she seems so cold.

 

I'm sorry, but Christine is such an idealist, it makes me gag.  In her poem, she talks about her future family, and that her kids will "always have their dad".  How does she know that?  How does she know that her future baby daddy won't  do the same thing her dad did, or divorce her, or die?  She doesn't, life is like that.  Christine needs to learn to deal with the fact that life isn't perfect, or hers is going to be miserable.  She has to learn to compromise and deal with adversity, because from what I've seen on the show, she can't.

 

That being said, Kayla could've handled the situation better, but I think she honestly wants a relationship with her daughters.  This isn't about emotions and getting in touch with his feminine side....this is an honest desire to BE a woman, not to have feelings. 

The problem that I can see in all of this is the fact that you do not know the whole story.  Dr. Phil cannot put their whole lives on his one hour show.  Michael has always been like this.  Christina is 21 years old.  I am double her age and have lived her lifetime twice.  Of course I am a realist, that comes with time and age.  At 21 years of age, you are an idealist and haven't been scorched by the world yet.  Christina wrote a poem (from the heart) about her feelings for her Dad.  Who would ever be critical to that?
 
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April 30, 2008, 7:38 am PDT

You scare me!

Quote From: lepasley

I feel like I just stepped into the park at Turtle Creek.  When I was working in the police department, we use to arrest people like this guy - usually in a compromising position with another one just as sick.  I am dumbfounded how you people can defend the he/she against his children - who have no choice in this mess.  Is daddy paying people to write this crap on the boards.  Is there a voice of reason out here?
It's people like you with your attitude that scare me.  My daughter who used to be my son is a transgender. She is a hardworking, sweet and loving person.  She does not sell herself on the streets!  I worry about her everyday that she is out in the world that someone like you is going to look at her and make the wrong assumption and hurt her.  My daughter and people like her did not chose to be the way she is.  They were born this way. Her life has not been easy.  My husband and I have done everything possible to help her along the way,but it's ignorant people like you that make our job very hard. You need to educate yourself about transgenders before you start putting them all into one pot.  And NO daddy did not pay me to put any of this on the boards. And I am furious with Dr. Phil for not being more sensitive about this issue and that is why there are so many people on these boards defending the "DAD".
 
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April 30, 2008, 7:39 am PDT

Love was Missing

Quote From: afraid

what difference does it really matter if you got indoor plumbing or out door plumbing why cant some one born with the wrong plumbing call a plumber and get it corrected,and not still love their children?
My point exactly.  This is not an episode about trans-gender, reassignment surgery, homosexuality or any hot button issue of our time.  This is about a person devoid of love and human compassion for his own children.  He raised and nurtured these girls. 

The oldest girl rightly states that Kayla killed her father.  That is the most profound statement of the show.  Their father is dead.  A stranger is in his place.  One with no sign of love for them.

Hopefully with counseling he can resurrect those paternal feeling's that "Kayla" has destroyed.  He appears to be mentally ill. 
 
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April 30, 2008, 7:42 am PDT

Wow...

I cried all through this episode. My father is not transgender, but he did have an affair and basically deserted our family. His attitude reminds me so much of the "father" on this show. The poem the oldest one wrote could have been written by me... My heart goes out to these girls- I know how much pain they are in.
 
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April 30, 2008, 7:48 am PDT

04/29 Daddy Dramas

Quote From: eileenjeanne

For a person as great as you feel you are, I had not seen you get into the two wives! Why do I ask this of you? Did you ever think that it was because of these two women's hate for Kayla, did everything possible to make their daughters hate their dad?  Did you even think of asking the two ex -wives if Kayla did try to communicate with her daughters, only for the two-ex-wives never tell them of this.  There are so many questions you should of asked the two ex-wives, their mothers  brain washing their children to hate what their dad has done!

Don't throw stones until you know the ENTIRE STORY!!!! Lastly...Look at the show again and please tell me that Kayla did not show any emotion!  She held back her tears and feelings. Why... I'm not able to say why, but she was very much torn apart being victimized by you, Dr. Phil!  Look again at the video and look at the two ex-wives expressions... I didn't see them cry, Did you? What I saw on their faces were, mission accomplished, Our daughters hate him! 

Bring them back for part 2 Dr. Phil... Tear them apart like you had done with Kayla! you just may learn about "Hail hath no fury  like A Woman's Scorn!"

You have no idea what you are talking about.  You cannot know the whold story either.  You look at the show again.  You will see tears from the mothers.  The mothers have been at the receiving end of Michael's abuse for many years.  Do not throw stones at Dr. Phil.  He did a world of good for the girls.  This show has validated their feelings and Dr. Phil is providing resources for Michael to go to therapy and the girls are willing to participate.  The look you saw on the Mom's faces was one of appreciation that Dr. Phil was able to give some type of comfort to the girls.  The girls are the ones who are suffering.  Why... I'm not able to say why, but they are the victims.  So keep your one sided opinion to yourself.
 
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April 30, 2008, 7:49 am PDT

04/29 Daddy Dramas

Quote From: eileenjeanne

For a person as great as you feel you are, I had not seen you get into the two wives! Why do I ask this of you? Did you ever think that it was because of these two women's hate for Kayla, did everything possible to make their daughters hate their dad?  Did you even think of asking the two ex -wives if Kayla did try to communicate with her daughters, only for the two-ex-wives never tell them of this.  There are so many questions you should of asked the two ex-wives, their mothers  brain washing their children to hate what their dad has done!

Don't throw stones until you know the ENTIRE STORY!!!! Lastly...Look at the show again and please tell me that Kayla did not show any emotion!  She held back her tears and feelings. Why... I'm not able to say why, but she was very much torn apart being victimized by you, Dr. Phil!  Look again at the video and look at the two ex-wives expressions... I didn't see them cry, Did you? What I saw on their faces were, mission accomplished, Our daughters hate him! 

Bring them back for part 2 Dr. Phil... Tear them apart like you had done with Kayla! you just may learn about "Hail hath no fury  like A Woman's Scorn!"

I absolutely agree with everything you have said here.
 
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April 30, 2008, 7:57 am PDT

Amen

Quote From: wwhi255608

I feel that everyone was way too tough on Kayla!  Yes, even the children - sorry - I'm sure this isn't a popular opinion.  Here's my reasoning:  where were the two biological Mother's of these two children?  Setting in the audience - whining about child support money.  Yes, I know the show was about Michael but why didn't the two Mother's set with the girls?  It would seem to me that if these Mother's had done THEIR "job" right in the first place and approached Michael's "problem" with them in a loving/understanding/caring series of conversations they would perhaps have been able to accept their father and his condition with less selfishness and hatred on their part!!!  Those "children" were wwaaayy too selfish and uneducated to the situation and, again, I blame the two Mother's.  Perhaps Michael didn't handle this correctly (he said as much at the start of the show) - well - neither did those children's Mother's!  I could go on and on but this time, Dr. Phil, I feel you REALLY missed the boat on this one!  Shame on you for attacking Kayla as severly as you did.

Amen.

 

 

The family was not helped on this show, if anything Dr. Phil made sure that a semi truck was placed between the girls and their father.

 

The conversation should have been brought around to; what could you do so that your are daughters more comfortable being around you. (i.e. not wearing makeup, having your hair up in a hat when around your children etc.) Instead, he made sure that the girls were more justified in their hate then ever. Not having a spirit of compromise, and having pure black and white thinking is not doing these girls any favors over the course of their lives.

 

The oldest would not let him show emotion, she did nothing but launch sideways assaults at him the whole entire show. (If he had tried to hug her she would have lost it)There comes a time when you put up boundries even if it is with the people that you love the most for your own well being. Do you suggest that he lets his daughters beat him up until they finally decides to maybe have a relationship with him?

 

I feel the mothers have helped,  planet these seeds of anger as well, They might be angry and hurt but they are not doing their children any favors by pointing out flaws in their father. Even when the ex-husband makes you mad as everything, you remind your children that their father loves, no matter what he may look like now. To do otherwise is parental alienation and it is cruel to your children.

 

Parting of loving people is finding a way to see past flaws, and learning to have different points of view without always having to be right.

 

Sorry Phil,you dropped the ball on healing this family.

 

 
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