Father’s Day may be behind us, but it sounded like Mike Huckabee put his Disappointed Dad hat to give a lecture to Bristol Palin. Palin was supposed to appear on Huckabee’s show to promote her new reality show that I keep purposefully forgetting exists only to get reminded by stories like this. However, Palin simply failed to call in, leaving Huckabee to give her a solid dressing down like a teenage daughter who missed her curfew.

RELATED: Bristol Palin Won’t ‘Shut Out Completely’ Possibility Of Running For Office In Hannity Interview

Interestingly enough though, it wasn’t Palin’s radio tardiness that Huckabee harped on. Instead he simply reminded her that, once she begins striding out into the spotlight herself, she is no longer just a “candidate’s child” deserving of protection, but someone actively welcoming the full extent of the media’s criticism.

“Once the child decides, ‘Hey, I like the spotlight, I like the limelight, I want to have more of it,’ then they become fair game. Then they are there by their own choice and their own volition. So, if you go on Dancing with the Stars, or a lecture tour, or do a reality show, then all the bets are off.”

Huckabee stated that he thought people like David Letterman were “horrible” to her in the past, but hoped that she would be ready for what would come now. It’s much worse, he implied, when the criticism isn’t about something your mom did but about what you’re doing yourself.

Listen to the clip below:

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