hamooteen

After Lightning came to RS, he moved into Doc’s guest bedroom (bc he’s basically homeless and sally kicks him out of the cone for tourists so he starts living in his trailer and doc takes him in out of pity LMAO).

Doc is a huge night owl bc of decades of night shifts at the hospital and he hasn’t grown out of the habit. When Lightning isn’t destroying his house from running into the glass doors or smth, one of their favourite late-night activities is sitting in silence together on the couch watching science documentaries.

Him.

But what makes me even more happy?

His character growth.

He went from this:

To this:

twinkle twinkle little star

"Good" is such a loaded term here, because what that meant back then and what it means now differ in a few significant ways. Overall, I think John Laurens would have done all of the things that were required of him as a parent, so in that way, my answer is yes - he would probably have been a good father by the standards of his day. But let’s explore a little more deeply what that would actually have meant.

The primary duties of a father in the 18th century included financially supporting his family, providing moral or spiritual guidance, educating his children, and instilling the proper virtues and values that would guarantee a successful life. While fathers generally focused more of their attention on their sons, especially where it came to education, this was not a firm rule, and it was not unheard of for daughters to be actively raised and educated by their fathers.

John would have had a good role model for single-fatherhood from his own father. After Eleanor Laurens died in 1770, Henry took on the responsibility of raising and educating his children himself. His focus, unsurprisingly, was on his sons. But although Martha and Mary Eleanor did not join their father and brothers on the 1771 journey to England to further the boys' education, Henry also arranged tutors for them and encouraged their focus on intellectual pursuits in tandem with learning the skills and crafts that women were expected to know. Martha especially was known to be intelligent and curious.

John also had plenty of first-hand experience in some of the practicalities of raising children, since he had been assigned to manage his brothers' education, finances and living arrangements while abroad - not to mention the supervisory role he played for his cousin, Molsy Bremar, and various other young South Carolinians in the Laurens's orbit, like Jackie Petrie. This responsibility came with plenty of instructions from Henry, but John carried out these duties well, and his judgement was trusted.

But what precisely might John have done if a six-year-old Frances was delivered to his doorstep in 1783?

I highly doubt that John would have taken on the full scope of parental duties himself. For one, he would just not have had the time in between finishing his studies, getting involved in politics, securing an income stream in the wake of his family’s ruined finances, supporting his younger siblings and sick father, and so on. Additionally, he would not have felt he was equipped to provide the guidance Frances should get from her mother. So I suspect that Frances would have ended up precisely where she did - in the care of her aunt Martha - with John playing a guiding and supervisory role over critical points of her education and upbringing, while leaving the rest of the childcare to his sister. This arrangement would have been considered normal and sensible, and would have provided Frances with the stable home life she is unlikely to have found at her father’s side.

As for the emotional connection John would have felt, which certainly would have been part of the "good father" package, it's hard to speculate. John was considerate, loving and affectionate to his siblings, even to his youngest sister, whom he barely knew - but he did not always show compassion to his cousin Molsy, or to his wife. And Frances herself barely warrants a single mention in his surviving correspondence.