Knowing that although they were distant towards you in your youth (many fathers only like their kids when they become adults, dunno, a psychological anomoly perhaps) they can actually redeem themselves in your teen or early twenty's by proving themselves to be worthy of your love/affection (for the want of a better word)
Some adults cannot relate to kids, but once they reach post teen/adult age hey presto ! - you have a dad (or mum - in a lot of cases)
A friend of mine back in the late '70's (female) was so afraid of her dad that she felt she couldn't enter through the front door after her 9.30 curfew, so arriving home one night at 10.30 (or so) decided to climb in through her bedroom window (she had been playing with a friend down the road, and you know, time stands still - she was only 10 at the time), as she did her father appeared in front of her with a loaded shotgun pointed at her face and calmly told her to ' get the 'fu*k out of the window and use the front door like normal people do'
?
Funny thing is, this lassie has cared for this man in his latter years, who gave her hell for many years attends to his needs when he calls, maybe it's because he lives nearby - I dunno
I have lived a long time, and yet I believe that I will never understand the human being.