Nunn: Parenting is difficult FacebookTwitterEmail This certainly served as an opportunity for reflection and learning for me. I am not the nurturer in our household. I tend to have a colder approach on things than my very caring and loving wife. I suppose some of the difference probably boils down to our parental roles. Moms are typically known to be the softer, more loving parent and dads are usually known to be more stern. In the days leading up to Charlie’s surgery, I hadn’t given much thought to how I would feel. I might have been still reeling from the price shock, or still trying to grapple with how a child’s teeth could have degraded to the condition hers had before her fifth birthday.