Watching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, I’m stunned by how cool Splinter is about having teenagers always running amok at his place. But maybe not surprised either. Maybe it was his dream to have a huge family? He enjoys their company, treats them all like his own, and never says no about having yet another hooligan requiring his time and energy to train. In fact, he thrives on it.

This also in spite of having lost his daughter. He’s sad about that, sure, but he won’t turn down an opportunity to build a family because of past tragedy. We’re shown time after time that his nightmare is losing his current family. And every kid, no matter how long he’s had them, is precious.

That’s pretty admirable. Real life people who sincerely love kids and adopt a bunch of children to help them, educate them, that’s a pretty awesome thing to do. So I like seeing it represented in fiction. Even when it’s about a giant rat-man teaching ninjatsu to a bunch of anthropomorphic reptiles.

I vote we add Splinter to the “cool dad” club.