Daniel's behavior

So, I want to talk about Daniel’s behavior. After finishing the ep 3 I never thought to see such a backlash towards the little brother. I guess I’m just genuinely an accepting person and every time I falsely assume that everybody are just like me. This definitely will be a long post. I’ve warned you. upd: hey, guys, I made part 2

Let’s talk about ep 1 for a bit. I want you to truly understand how amazing Esteban is. So, what do we see?

Brothers have separate rooms. That means they have a place in home that a truly theirs. A personal space. Good.

Esteban never belittles the interests of his children. He never tries to force Sean to be a car engineer. He never force his religion on anyone. He doesn’t mind Daniel doing his Halloween costume (even though the clothes are definitely ruined after that).

Esteban never tries to forbid something. For example, he spotted Sean smoking outside the house and he did lecture him but he did not forbid it per se.

He only gives the right direction but never the one who’s deciding it.

Most importantly he gives freedom. I think you all know what i’m trying to say here.

After running away Sean needs to be in charge 24/7. He ordering Daniel around, telling him what one’s should or shouldn’t do (and it’s not bad it’s a competently normal thing to do). Sean is being overprotective because he is the big brother, his decisions will make the consequences for both of them. And Sean makes mistakes. There’s a lot of stress for him.

Sean needs to protect his brother because Daniel is a child and for most of the time they are in constant danger. It’s natural for Sean to look after his brother. And Daniel is okay with that because he think’s it’s temporally. It’s a new territory, they are all alone. Of course, Daniel will obey Sean. Daniel doesn’t know the situation they are in.

In ep 2 we see brothers living with grandparents, with adults. So Sean doesn’t need to look after Daniel all the time. Of course, he still spends time with him and makes sure he’s alright but not every minute. Daniel spends time with grandpa and grandma. He meets Chris which is very significant too. And they have the same age.

Okay, let’s move away from the game for a bit before i start to say anything about ep 3.

Daniel mentions to us about his anger. Anger is very common problem in children. And unjustified violence. One of the reason why children often do some bizarre stuff is because they don’t really understand the nature of their feelings. They do not understand the concept of compress or hiding it.

The reasons why a child can feel a burst of anger is different. It could be because they seek an attention. Parents who are strict with their kids or simply doesn’t care to show them their love can expect the child to behave aggressively (as a result of a desire to attract attention). Aggression can be result of having the kid to “overgrew” his relationship with the family. That’s why a lot of teens feels so annoyed by their parents. Kids feel overprotected, their lives are constantly being interfered by parents and etc.

And that’s what’s happening with Daniel.

So, at the start of ep 3 we have:

Brothers are staying in one place for long time.

They are not alone.

There are no one Daniel’s age.

I saw how a lot of people laughing at the Daniel’s phrase “I’m not a kid anymore” because he’s surely acts like one. BUT THAT’S THE WHOLE POINT.

Teens and preteens (around 9 to 12) tend to do that. They want to be the adults. They like the idea of it. Why? Adults opinions is matter and wouldn’t simply thrown away.

Daniel wants to be an adult because in his mind being a child is worse. In his mind he doesn’t see the reason he can’t be one. He hanging out with new friends at the camp, working with everybody, doing dishes… So why couldn’t he be the one in charge? He is the only one who is significantly younger there. He is the only one who receives special attention.

That’s why he starts to spend time with Finn. Unlike his brother Finn treats him like an adult. That’s why Daniel estrange from Sean. Of course that doesn’t mean that Daniel doesn’t love his brother he just wishes to be equal. Sean can’t allow it because he feels the need to be a parental figure for his little brother while Daniel doesn’t see Sean as one due brother’s young age. And they are siblings not a parent and a child. That’s how their relationship was back then in Seattle, but now it’s different. The difference in rights feels even more stronger now.

Don’t get me wrong, Sean is doing everything he could do to protect Daniel and I love him. In his perspective his protectiveness shows us that he’s truly cares for his brother. He will do anything to help him. But to Daniel this over-protectiveness feels like a bad thing. Why? Because that shows him that his brother doesn’t trust him, he doesn’t think that Daniel is able to do something on his own. That he is can’t do anything and must be watched. To Daniel Sean only scolds him and making rules while Finn gives him the freedom.

Honestly, in the situation like this i would probably be even more protective than Sean. It’s really hard not to. So Sean is doing his best.

You can do everything right but kids still will be angry at you, they would say harsh words, do something stupid and to rebel against you. That’s the complexity of raising a child. And it’s different than just to be around with one for a couple hours a day.

I saw a lot of comments complaining that instead of knowing Sean’s sexuality they choose went with Daniel to sleep because they’re good brothers. But. Hear me out. As a parent you’re supposed to do that. You are supposed to sacrifice your free time so you could be with your child. Is it fair? Of course not. Of course, Sean wants to spent time with others, to have fun but now he has different priorities. Sean from the past would definitely sit at campfire. Now Sean have to question his acts.

And last but not least is Cassidy. If player chooses to spent more time with her, Daniel will be angry about that. He can even threaten her. And you would ask me, why?

“She didn’t do anything wrong, she was only nice to him!”

The answer is very obvious for me. But that’s probably because I had a similar situation with my older brother years and years back.

“My brother talks to her a lot. He spends time with her. And i feel lonely. He doesn’t want to be with me anymore. She is more important for him that me. I hate her. It’s her fault. Without her Sean would be with me”.

Cass doesn’t need to be bad for Daniel to dislike her. It’s as simple as that.

“But why Daniel is allowed to befriends with somebody while Sean can’t?”

It feels like a lot of people forget that children are hypocrites. They see everybody problems except their own. Because they think they are always right. It’s physiology, kid’s body is still developing, they do not fully understands a lot of feeling, acts and etc. It’s okay. They will in time. Let children be children. Even if they can be a pain in the ass.

I’m not justifying his actions but I want you to understand him. He acts like a real child would do in this kind of situation.

If you still have questions after reading this, please, ask me. I probably missed some stuff or simply forgot to mention it!