7 Unscripted Questions from My Bonus Son – A Special Fatherhood Episode with Abe the Positive Kid-Audio

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What happens when a child takes control of the podcast mic? In this special episode of 15 Minutes with Dad, the tables are turned as my bonus son Abe (the Positive Kid) interviews me with seven questions I hadn't seen beforehand. No scripts, no preparation—just raw, honest conversation between father and son.

Our discussion quickly moves beyond surface-level pleasantries into profound territory. When asked what family means to me, I share how true family relationships transcend blood ties, centering on loving someone for who they want to become rather than just who they are today. Abe's brilliantly simple definition—someone who cares about you and who you care about in return—reminds us that sometimes children grasp life's most complex concepts with striking clarity.

The most unexpected revelation comes when I explain how Abe himself has helped me heal parts of my own childhood. Through parenting him since he was seven, I've reconnected with my inner child who experienced trauma and fear at the same age. Seeing Abe's light, joy, and exploratory spirit has allowed me to nurture the childhood self I wish I could have been—a healing journey I wasn't emotionally prepared for in previous relationships.

Using the metaphor of a tether rope from a space game we once played, I explain how healthy families provide the crucial anchoring that keeps us grounded while giving us freedom to explore the world. When Abe asks how I feel about being his stepfather, I share that it's one of life's greatest honors. His response—that he sees me as his "real father" because I care about him and set boundaries for his protection—brings our conversation full circle, demonstrating that meaningful family bonds aren't created by DNA but through consistent love, presence, and mutual growth.

Whether you're a stepparent, biological parent, or someone stepping up for a child who's not biologically yours, this conversation celebrates the power of chosen family and the profound connections we can build through honesty, vulnerability, and simply being available. Subscribe to hear more conversations about real fatherhood and personal growth, and check out Abe the Positive Kid on YouTube for his insightful content for children and adu

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and a little out of my control.
So I'm being interviewed by myplus son, ab the Positive Kid.

(00:20):
That's right.
He came up with seven questionsto ask me and I haven't seen a
single one of them.
No scripts, no preps, justfather and son talking from the
heart.
If you're a dad, stepdad oranyone stepping up for a child
who's not biologically yours,this one's for you.
This episode celebrates thebond we can build through
presence, honesty and just beingavailable.

(00:41):
So buckle up and let's diveinto seven unscripted questions
for my bonus sign AB thepositive kid.
Abe, the mic is yours.

Speaker 2 (00:49):
Hi Hi.

Speaker 1 (00:52):
Hi, what's going on.
Boy, are you excited?

Speaker 2 (00:55):
Yes, I'm really excited, nervous and I really
don't know what to do.

Speaker 1 (01:02):
All right, me either, so I'm hoping these questions
aren't too far off the wall.
You are very much known foryour spontaneity, so your
spontaneous actions.
So we'll see what kind of partywe get into.
Let's get into it.

Speaker 2 (01:16):
All right.
First question what is yourfavorite time spent with your
family?

Speaker 1 (01:24):
Ah, we're talking about family.
My favorite time spent with myfamily Ah, we're talking about
family.
My favorite time spent with myfamily is when we're doing movie
night or when we go on tripsand I spend a lot of money.
No, I'm joking, I like to like.
My favorite time is really,honestly, when we're just
relaxing with each other or youguys are playing outside and I'm

(01:46):
able to watch you guys play, orplay with y'all.

Speaker 2 (01:49):
I love playing with you guys okay, second question
what does family mean to you?

Speaker 1 (01:58):
family means that's a big one, because for me, family
, I have family.
That's not that's a big onebecause for me, family, I have
family.
That's not blood, that's notlike blood related to me and I
have family that's like youyou're not blood related to me,
but you're my family.
Then I have family.
That's blood related to me.
But I feel like family is thisidea that a person loves you for

(02:26):
who you would like to becomeand not just who you are today.
A person that that growth andholds you accountable and even
in the hard times, when youdon't feel like you can do
something, but being able tolike love you and love you
through mistakes and love youthrough your triumphs and love
you through your hard times aswell all right.

Speaker 2 (02:47):
Third question when is it time or times that your
family helped you in any way?

Speaker 1 (02:57):
and when we say family, we're talking about you
guys.
Are we talking about, like myextended family, like my mom and
my siblings, like any type offamily?
Let me see there was a timethat I didn't have.
There was a time I didn't havea job.

(03:17):
I was like unemployed, I hadlost my job and there and there,
and it was like times where Ididn't feel like I was a good
dad or a good father because Iwasn't able to fully support a
brand new income we had.
We wasn't, we had money, but Ifelt like my value I had my

(03:40):
value tied to the fact that Ididn't have a job or had a job.
And I think during that time,we spent a lot more time outside
doing like very chill thingsthat didn't cost a lot of money,
like we went to parks.
We I don't know if you rememberwhen we got like frisbees and
stuff and like we went to thepark and we was like throwing

(04:03):
tennis balls and trying to catchthem with the little pads and
like we had some games and stuffor we did the obstacle courses.
Like I feel like that helped meor helped shaped my value in
myself and how I feel and theconfidence I feel as a dad or as
a person, when you guys wereshowed me that it's okay to to

(04:27):
be able to have to enjoy lifeand have fun without all the
extravagance of finances.
So you guys showed me what lovewas outside of my job and
outside of my work all rightwhat do you have to say about
that?
because you're asking questions,but what does that mean to you?

(04:47):
All right, what do you have tosay about that?
Because you're asking questions, but what does that mean to you
?

Speaker 2 (04:55):
What are your thoughts on that?
Like right now, I know I'mbeing cared, but I know I'm
being more cared than I thoughtbefore.
Why?
Because I didn't think thatplaying with us or something
like that would help to figureout about love and stuff yeah,

(05:20):
and what does family mean to you?

Speaker 1 (05:22):
family?

Speaker 2 (05:23):
Family means to me that, like someone that cares
about me and I care about them,you can care about friends, and
friends can care about you.

Speaker 1 (05:33):
Does that make them family?

Speaker 2 (05:35):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (05:36):
Okay, that's fair.
That's pretty simple.
That's a lot more simpler thanI said it.
I should have kept it simplelike you did.
That was good.

Speaker 2 (05:51):
Profound, even Profound, even profound.
All right, what's your nextquestion, bud?
If there is anything you coulddo or give to your family, well,
what is it?

Speaker 1 (06:00):
that's good if there's one thing that I can
give to my family.

Speaker 2 (06:06):
Or do.

Speaker 1 (06:07):
Or do for my family.
What would it be?
I would grant each of you threewishes.

Speaker 2 (06:18):
Nah, are you the genie.
Are you the?

Speaker 1 (06:21):
genie now?
Nah, I wouldn't.
I think I would.
If I can do or give anything toyou, I would give you.
If I could give something, itwould be inspiration.

(06:42):
I don't know, that's probablylame, but I think of a way of
like, how can I make a lastingimpact on you guys outside of
giving you a thing?
And I believe and it's a toughquestion, maybe this is good it
got deeper and deeper, man, butI believe that I want all of you

(07:06):
guys, all of my kids, to live ahappy and fulfilling life life
and I say inspiration or anexample.
I'm learning about what thefullness of life really feels
like, and it's through you guysthat I'm learning that Like it's

(07:29):
, there's not a thing that willmake you happy, but it's the
impact that you make on peoplethat really gives you that
long-lasting joy and happinessthat I want you guys to have.
When y'all wake up, when you'rean adult and you wake up in the
morning, I want you to feelpassionate and excited, to be

(07:52):
awake and grateful, and to beawake and grateful and happy, to
be you and happy, like throughyour life.
That's what I want to give you.
I can't give you that, that'snot a thing I can give you.
But the closest I can do isinspire you to do that.
And if I can do anything, itwould be to open every door that

(08:17):
you knock on, every door ofopportunity that you knock on,
every door of opportunity thatyou knock on in your life, that
I've walked through it enough toopen that door for you, at
least to crack the door so youcan kick it open.
You know when you want to gobeast, when you say I want to be
an astronaut, I want to havecreated a connection that you
could go and use to say, hey, Iwant to be an astronaut.

(08:37):
I want to have created aconnection that you could go and
use to say, hey, I want to bean astronaut, I'm about to go
knock on the door.
You'd be so confident to gokick that door open because you
feel like you could do anythingin the world.
That's a boring dad answer, butthat's the best I can do with
no preparation for this question.

Speaker 2 (08:56):
I'm not sure if that's a boring dad answer, but
okay, that was actually like Ican't even explain it.

Speaker 1 (09:06):
How does it?
Make you feel?

Speaker 2 (09:08):
It makes me feel like the last answer, more caring,
because what you would do,that's what you would do for me.

Speaker 1 (09:19):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (09:22):
All right.
Fifth question who is theperson in your life who helped
you the most?

Speaker 1 (09:30):
So far.

Speaker 2 (09:32):
So far.

Speaker 1 (09:34):
I have so many friends that I've learned things
from so far.
I have so many friends thatI've learned things from.
I have so many people I've comeacross in life that's taught me
so much and I don't know ifthat's helping.
Helping is hard to considerbecause I've learned things from
people without them attemptingto teach me things, so I don't

(09:57):
know if they helped.
I would say that was helping,but they may not have done
anything to try and help me.
They just probably was thereand I was like hey, I learned
something from you.
You know what.
I'll answer this like this.
I'll say this because I'velived a lot of life.
I've learned a lot in differentstages of my life, but in this
stage of my life I will say thatI am learning, or I have been

(10:21):
helped a lot.
I've been helped a lot from you.

Speaker 2 (10:30):
What do you mean?

Speaker 1 (10:31):
Because I've been in your life since you were seven.
Right Before then I probably Iwas with someone that had a son
that they were like 11 or 12 orgoing on 12.
But I've learned a lot aboutthe child that was my inner

(10:53):
child at your age, or my youngerself, my childhood at your age.
I've learned so much aboutmyself during this time, since
we've been at like four yearsnow and, believe it or not, like
I feel, like I've learned howto care and love for a son and

(11:16):
to love my younger child or myinner child at your age.
I was exposed me to myself andI haven't dealt with a kid,
except for Mariah, but she's agirl, so I didn't really feel
that way.
Go through that experience ofthis age, of my inner child,
much as like with Mariah, I waslike I want to love and protect

(11:41):
her because she's my baby andshe's at this age.
But with you I feel that sameway, with you, but with you it
exposed me to myself and itreally helped me focus on a part
of myself that I realized thatwas extremely traumatized as a
kid and scared as a kid, and youembody this child that I wish

(12:03):
that I could have been when Iwas your age and that's, I feel
like you helped me heal in thatregard, because I see you with
light in your eyes and joy andexploration and excitement, and
that has taught me so much.
That has helped me become abetter person.

Speaker 2 (12:22):
Mini question.
You said that I exposed you toyour inner child.
You also said that you had,that you also had another deaf
son that was also 11 years old.
Why didn't you get?
Did you also get exposed to theinner child?

Speaker 1 (12:42):
I think the way that relationship was I wasn't I
haven't gone through enoughtherapy or enough even healing
to even acknowledge that existedat that time, and so I didn't.
I never really opened up thatwith him um, like we grew close.

(13:03):
But it wasn't until the endingof the relationship that we grew
close.
It was very tumultuous at thevery beginning but with you I
get to.
I've experienced, especiallycoming from seven years old.
I got to watch you grow until11, so I really learned a lot
about how I grew from that ageand how I thought and how my
mental was during that age,during that time.
So yeah, that's, it's just adifferent dynamic, I think, from

(13:25):
the relationship.
I've done a lot of therapy andduring this, during our
relationship, and so it's kindof shows me myself okay, what I
think about that is that, like,shows me myself.

Speaker 2 (13:39):
Okay, what I think about that is that, like, I am
very important in your liferight now.
I also helped you in some ways,mostly in a lot of ways,
because that's how you put itWow, wow, oh.
Sixth question why do you careabout family?

Speaker 1 (14:03):
I care about family for a couple reasons.
The first reason is familykeeps you grounded, keeps me
grounded.
When I go out into the worldand I get overwhelmed by the no,
the people saying no, or thepeople acting aggressive or hate
that I'm experiencing at anygiven time, or even love that

(14:26):
I'm experiencing, I get groundedor I get to be they call it
tethered.
Where I'm like, if you think ofa rope being tied to my back,
there's my family and thenthere's a rope tied to my back.
And when I go off into theworld to work or to communicate
or to network, whatever I'mdoing with my life outside of
the household, I'm tethered tomy family.

(14:47):
I'm tethered to you guys.
And the stronger, the healthierthat we are, the stronger our
family is, the stronger the ropeis when I reach out and it's
easier and more good for me tocome back home and come back to
you guys.
And family grounds me and keepsme from floating off into the

(15:07):
world without a rope and flyinginto the cosmos of space and
getting lost.
I think without family, peopleget lost.
They fall into bad places thatthey shouldn't.
They just think of what's thatlittle?
You remember that game weplayed with the astronauts and
you have to like reach and havethat rope that's keeping you

(15:28):
from flying everywhere.
You got to keep putting yourrope, but you're.
It's like the little space.
Move to space.

Speaker 2 (15:33):
Yeah, I forgot.

Speaker 1 (15:36):
Yeah, but you know what I'm talking about.
So if you think of that and youthink of all the different
places you could hook yourlittle tether to, that's what
happens when people don't havefamily.
When you have family, your ropeis tied to a single source, but
it's the more love andconnected you are with your
family, the longer your rope isand the easier it is to still
come back to your family,whereas if you don't have family

(15:59):
, you're putting your littlehook in all these random places
and tethering yourself to randomplaces.
That doesn't give you the spaceto move anywhere.
You know how short that ropewas when you had to keep putting
and clinking it up to thisthing.
It's the same.
I think that's the same conceptof like, how family make like,

(16:22):
why family is so important to me.

Speaker 2 (16:27):
Family can do a lot of things.

Speaker 1 (16:30):
Yeah, a healthy family can do a lot of things.
If their family isn't healthy,then they're basically
constantly cutting your rope.
Every time you leave, they cutit and then you have to, like,
try to.
You're trying to reconnect andthey just keep on cutting and
your rope's getting shorter andshorter, but they're not
building the rope to make itstronger or longer or anything
like that Okay.

(16:50):
You get it.

Speaker 2 (16:52):
Yep, I get it.

Speaker 1 (16:53):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (16:57):
I was not prepared for this.
Yeah, man.

Speaker 1 (16:59):
Yeah, I was not prepared for this.
Yeah, man, yeah, deep, deep.

Speaker 2 (17:03):
The last question.

Speaker 1 (17:05):
Dun dun.
Oh, it sounds my bad.
You said dun dun dun.
It sounded like a superhero andI was like dun dun, dun, I do.
Oh, okay, all right.

Speaker 2 (17:18):
How do you feel about me being your stepson and why?

Speaker 1 (17:24):
I feel it's one of the greatest honors I've had to
do in my life.
Yeah, because being a plus dadto a kid like you, to a great
kid like you who's bright andinquisitive like you're like

(17:47):
super fun.
You always find the joy andlaughter in something and you
keep smiles on everyone's faces,even though you're nosy
sometimes but like it's.
You have your personality thatreally lights up the family and
you bring an amazing piece in mylife and you give me the

(18:08):
experience of being a dad to ason at your age and it's just
fun to watch you flourish andgrow and learn and you're
helping me become a greater dadat that.
In that, in this realm, in ourfamily, you're helping me become
a greater and greater dadbecause I have to be.
I have to be someone for you,just like I have to be someone

(18:29):
for Mariah and Emmy and Imani.
But you you and Mariah arehelping mold me in so many ways
my character traits to be even abetter dad for you and I love
being your plus dad and I lovethat you're my plus son and I
get to walk this earth and knowthat a kid like you loves me.

(18:50):
It makes me feel amazing and Ilove you and I appreciate you.

Speaker 2 (18:59):
Wow, very heartwarming.
I was not prepared for thatanswer.

Speaker 1 (19:05):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (19:05):
Okay, I got a question.

Speaker 1 (19:08):
I got a question for you.

Speaker 2 (19:10):
I thought I was interviewing you.

Speaker 1 (19:12):
You were interviewing me, but sometimes the
interviewee likes to give theinterviewer a question.
Interview me, but sometimes theinterviewee likes to give the
interviewer a question.
What is I ask your question,but with me in it.
Your last question, but with mein it.

Speaker 2 (19:27):
To you, oh, I feel about you being my stepfather is
I feel like I'm also being likeI never had a real father.
Like you, like I know you likestrict sometimes, but like for
the but for good, like you knowwhat to do for stuff and you're

(19:51):
trying to just just trying toprotect me, trying Trying to
save me from things, trying tonot make me see the things I
don't need to see On YouTubeBecause I'm apparently banned
For seeing things I'm notsupposed to.

Speaker 1 (20:07):
Okay, Keep going.

Speaker 2 (20:12):
Yeah, so yeah, I like Never Didn't have that at the,
the real father that I reallyhad with you.
You made me like, actually,like you are, like you make me
feel like you're the real,you're my real father because,

(20:34):
like you care about me, you'redoing things, even though
they're strict.
I don't like them, but it'sback to the strict.
I see you like it's for, butit's for me, it's for myself, so
like I'm happy to have, it'sthat father like you.

Speaker 1 (20:57):
That's so heartwarming, so heartwarming.
Hey, you first.
Yeah, I love you, bud, and Ithank you for jumping on an
episode with me to do thispodcast.
It's been a pleasure and yourquestions were definitely
catching me off guard.
I had to really think duringthe podcast, which is fun.
I look forward to otherconversations that we'll have.

(21:19):
Thank you for having me andinterviewing me.
Ab, the positive kid everyonegive him a round of applause.
You did a great jobinterviewing.
But you sure you don't wantyour own podcast?

Speaker 2 (21:30):
huh, but you want to do, you want your own podcast.

Speaker 1 (21:32):
I do now.
I kind of do you want your ownpodcast.

Speaker 2 (21:36):
I do now.

Speaker 1 (21:36):
I kind of do.
Are you going to be justinterviewing everybody, anybody?
All right, we'll talk about it.
Thank you for joining me.
If you haven't followed us onsocial media, you can follow us
on 15 Minutes with Dad.
You can follow AB the PositiveKid on YouTube.
Abe the Positive Kid on YouTube.
Abe A-B-E the Positive Kid onYouTube.
You can follow his shorts wherehe gives very positive insights

(21:59):
for children and adults as wellto build a stronger family bond
With that.
Have a great day, folks.
Bye.