What did you learn from the film about parenting? Consider:

• the impact on Zack’s and Nina’s relationship
• Keire’s experience of “discipline” from his father
• Bing’s experience of abuse and his mother’s regrets

What do you think Bing, Keire, and Zack learned from their fathers about fatherhood? How did the modelling they observed compare to what you have learned about what it means to be a father?

Keire’s father died at age 52, so he wasn’t there during the years when his son was coming of age. What difference does that make? How might it affect a community if systemic pressures (e.g., racism, chronic economic insecurity, higher incarceration rates) mean that many fathers aren’t around for their children’s teenage and early adult years?

Given that Bing grew up without knowing his dad, do you think it was difficult for him to watch Zack move to Colorado while his son Elliot stayed in Rockford?

How are Keire and Zack shaped by their perception that their fathers weren’t proud of them?