Mom or Dad.....Who's Better

According to www.bblocks.samhsa.gov, 40% parents are divorced or split up in America. Sadly the Boone family was a part of that 40%; out of that 40%, 80% picked a favorite parent. In the story The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon, Christopher has autism and his parents split up. He lives with his dad. But in the end he decides to live with his mom. Even though in the end he ends up living with his mom, I still believe his father is the better parent.

 “I felt sick” was the reaction from Christopher when he realized his mother was not dead but his father was hiding that she was still alive. Most people would read this and right away judge Mr. Boone (Christopher’s dad) and say how he is horrible for doing that. But if you actually think about in Mr. Boone’s shoes you might have done the same. “I did it for your good, Christopher…Honestly I did. I never meant to lie. I just thought…I just thought it was better if you didn't know” (00). This I believe was very sincere. I think that with Christopher having autism and everything he was going through this was the right thing to do.

Another reason why people might judge Mr. Boone is because he freaks out a lot on Christopher. “Holy F****** Jesus, Christopher, how stupid are you.” This is just one of the many examples in the book where he freaks out at Christopher. Why does he freak out you might wonder? Well in my opinion he does this because he is stressed out from his wife leaving and his son having autism; it’s not a easy task being a single dad with an autistic son. “It's exhausting, and there's no end in sight.” As one parent said on www.dallasnews.com.

In conclusion Mr. Boone is a better parent. He just wanted to protect his son and do the right thing. Maybe it wasn't the right decision but at least he was trying to protect him. Because of this I don’t blame Mr. Boone; at least he wasn't the parent that ran away from her problems like Christopher’s mother did.