Losing a parent is never easy, no matter how old you are. But when you’re a little kid, not only is the loss devastating, it changes the shape of your entire life. For some people, the gap can never be filled. For others, they find love in other places.

For one teacher and weightlifting coach, he fills the gap by giving his love away.

When Nicholas DiAntonio was five years old, his father passed away from pancreatic cancer, and a family member told his mother that he and his brother were going to grow up differently.

“My uncle, an orthopedic surgeon, said, ‘Maybe it’s not a negative. Maybe they’ll develop with much more empathy and compassion and care because they were forced to mature so quickly because they went through a difficult time,’ ” DiAntonio says.

That certainly seems to be the case, as DiAntonio grew up eating lunch with special needs kids, and began volunteering to work with when he was just in 7th grade.

He credits his outreach to an incident in middle school, when he saw a boy with special needs being bullied. “I remember he couldn’t get out of the circle and kids were calling him names,” DiAntonio, who teaches math at Natick High School in Massachusetts, told PEOPLE. “I immediately went over and pulled him out. I stayed with him and got a teacher…It was striking to me, at that point, that individuals with special needs aren’t able to stand up for themselves.”

For the past 17 years, he’s been working with the Special Olympics, volunteering throughout high school and college before co-founding the Milford Special Olympics powerlifting team. He’s been coaching it for 7 years and calls it his passion.

“It’s infectious,” he says. “It makes you feel so good when you see the smiles on the faces of your athletes.”

DiAntonio doesn’t deny the impact his father’s passing has had on him.

“Having to grow up quickly, having to deal with the awfulness of my father passing at age 5, I developed an empathy for all different people. I’ve always had a big heart. I see individuals with special needs — they’re craving attention, they just want to be one of the guys, they want to hang out. It spurs me to want to help.”

The teams he coaches are tight-knit, thanks to DiAntonio’s leadership and devotion to building a family. He drives students to practice, takes them bowling and to the movies, and has earned a stellar reputation.

“Nick stands out at competitions,” says Charles Hirsch, the director of development, brand and marketing for Special Olympics Massachusetts. “He gets the athletes excited. He brings them together as a team.”

“I’ve known my wife since we were 13.

Throughout the years we kept in touch. She had a daughter with someone else, so when she and I started dating, I took on the dad role. It came naturally for me.

When she asked me to adopt her daughter I was over the moon. I never thought I would have any kids of my own, so being a stepdad was just fine for me.

Well, two years later we found out we were pregnant.

My wife dealt with so much during her pregnancy. Between having complete placenta previa and being on bed rest, it was a rough time. At 31 weeks her water broke and we were in antepartum for 3 weeks.

My son was born at 34 weeks and is doing great although he’s been in the nicu his whole life. He is 3 weeks old and today they took his feeding tube out and he is one step closer to coming home.

We cannot wait to start our lives with our newest addition once he is home.”

– Frank Mester (IG: inkedsparky

Want to share a story about fatherhood? Email fatherfigures@thedad.com

Check out the previous editions of Father Figures here

Earlier this week, a story about a university and its fanbase rallying around a bullied student captivated the nation. A boy in Florida wore a homemade University of Tennessee shirt at his school for “college colors day.” He was devastated after getting bullied for his design, which is when his teacher posted about it on Facebook. Vols Nation came through, and the University engineered an outpouring of support. Most importantly, it made the boy’s design an official t-shirt in their shop.

The fansite crashed from so many orders, as Vols fans gobbled up the shirt whose proceeds are being donated to an anti-bullying charity (more than 50, 000 have been ordered). And now the story has taken another turn, as the University of Tennessee has offered the bullied boy a full scholarship.

In a statement, the University said it’s offering the boy “honorary admission” to the class of 2032 in addition to the four-year scholarship. The boy’s mother told University officials the family “has been deeply touched by the overwhelming outpouring from people around the world.”

The Rock today. #GoVols pic.twitter.com/eGyBPRlhZZ

— UT Knoxville Alumni (@tennalum) September 9, 2019

The anti-bullying lesson and its message have even spread to other schools, as one elementary school in Pennsylvania adopted the idea of wearing orange in honor of anti-bullying for their spirit day. The principal was overwhelmed when the busses dropped off hundreds of his students, many clad in their own homemade orange shirts.

Winding Creek stands with The University of Tennessee @UTKnoxville today as we proudly wore orange in support of the anti-bullying story they championed. Hundreds of our kids came in a wave of orange as we spread the hope for school environments built on kindness. @CVSDnews pic.twitter.com/pXTkjL0k8x

— Winding Creek Elementary School (@WC_WolfPack) September 12, 2019

And the boy’s teacher updated her Facebook post, thanking everyone around the world for their support. She said it’s been an awesome week about learning to be kind.

“We’ve had lots of discussions about being kind, and I’m really excited to see my students step up their acts of kindness,” she said.

It was a cool gesture for Tennessee to adopt the shirt in the university store, but I feel like the kid has earned the scholarship at this point, at least for all the great press that this story has generated for the school. They might as well also throw in an honorary degree in graphic design, as he’s probably the best-selling elementary school designer in history.

And if you want to join the movement, you can grab the shirt from the official team shop.

What would you do if you knew you were about to lose your job? Sure, you could have a breakdown. Maybe send an email to your coworkers telling them how you really feel? Eh, It’s been done.

Why not take the opportunity to leave on a high note by showing your employer that they’re losing a true asset to the company? A creative thinker who knows how to turn a frown upside down. Someone who’s not clowning around. Recently presented with the opportunity, New Zealand native, Joshua Jack, answered the call.

Upon receiving an email from his employers saying they needed to discuss his role at the company, Jack was told he could bring someone for “support” to the meeting in order to help him weather the news. Being a smart businessman, Jack knew this role would best be filled by a professional.

Jack wasted little time, immediately researching viable options and eventually landing on Joe, a professional clown who Jack hired for $200.

Arriving in full attire and a blue wig, Joe was ready to stand by, sit with, and console Jack in any way he could. For the duration of the exit interview, Jack had Joe close by — giving both emotional support as well as two balloon animals the performer very slowly crafted during the meeting. “It was sort of noisy, him making balloon animals, so we did have to tell him to be quiet from time-to-time.”

When asked how management reacted to the tactic, Jack responded, “I mean he was one of the best clowns in all Auckland so they were getting something of a free service.” For his part, Jack told morning radio show MagicTalk “I did get fired, but apart from that it was all smooth running.”

As for Jack’s professional life, the recently canned comedic adman has already landed a new position, hopefully at a place that values his particular brand of expression more than the last.

The biggest story in college sports this week was the bill that passed the California Senate, allowing collegiate athletes to earn endorsement money. The governor of California has 30 days to sign the bill, which would go into effect in 2023. The bill could radically change the landscape of college sports.

A story of this magnitude draws plenty of takes, but Tim Tebow had one of the worst ones. He tries to make this about the purity of the amateur sporting experience and about school pride and some other nonsense. It’s an antiquated idea that exists mainly in fiction crafted by 65-year-old sportswriters. These days, it’s tough to argue college sports isn’t big business when the highest-paid employee at every major school is the football coach, usually followed in pecking order by a few other football coaches (and usually the head basketball coach, for good measure).

.@TimTebow passionately expresses his thoughts on the California Senate passing a bill allowing student-athletes to have endorsements. pic.twitter.com/W5uBW7ePNm

— First Take (@FirstTake) September 13, 2019

Most athletes are on the other side of the argument, including one of the biggest stars of all time.

Or….because of this bill, you can work with everyone to create a national policy that is fair to the athletes. https://t.co/Ey3lBzeB3v

— LeBron James (@KingJames) September 11, 2019

Cam Newton is killing it this season. Sure, not on the football field where he’s had a rough start for fantasy owners, including a Thursday night loss to the Bucs. But he is killing it in the fashion department, where he has no parallel.

“Early reports list Cam Newton as DOUBTFUL next week in Arizona for catching the vapors.” pic.twitter.com/S8bYH5Zyou

— Sal Vulcano (@SalVulcano) September 13, 2019

It’s certainly more interesting than some of the moves Tom Brady has pulled in the past.

How you look when you try to give yourself a nickname. pic.twitter.com/B5ehB1akad

— Mark Chalifoux (@markchalifoux) August 23, 2019

Rob Gronkowski gave an interview this week where he revealed he’s had more than 20 concussions in his career. He also said brain damage was reversible, which is probably something you’d say as the result of getting 20 concussions.

It is fixable. I fixed mine. There are plenty of methods in this world that allow the brain to recover from severe damage. That is also why I would allow my kid to play football. https://t.co/9aI1olAdqP

— Rob Gronkowski (@RobGronkowski) September 13, 2019

Kobe ruthlessly dragged a child in an Instagram post. Coach Kobe was giving out accolades to his team when he mentioned one girl wasn’t in the team photo because she was at a dance recital, so you can ‘see where her focus was’. Coach Kobe, what a guy!

 

View this post on Instagram

 

Here’s our fourth place “winners” picture lol six of the kids in the picture stayed with me and worked every single day to get better and continue to work to this day. The 7th player (not in pic) missed this game for a dance recital so that should tell you where her focus was at this time, meaning she enjoyed dance more than ball which is fine. Now? She eats sleeps and breaths the game. So from this original group of 7 we have added a player TWO years YOUNGER (6th grade now), a player who’s team in our area folded and a player who’s family moved here from Tennessee. The beauty of coaching is growing the players from the ground up. That journey continues #mambas #2yearsago

A post shared by Kobe Bryant (@kobebryant) on Sep 11, 2019 at 12:03pm PDT

DeAndre Hopkins had one of the best highlights of the young NFL season. The Texans receiver is unquestionably the best at his position, but he showed another level of his game in week 1 when he body-slammed a cornerback.

Marcus Williams picks off Deshaun Watson. Deandre Hopkins comes in with a body slam tackle. Went full WWE.

(Hopkins was called for unnecessary roughness.)pic.twitter.com/8TogjpSJwR

— NFL Update (@MySportsUpdate) September 10, 2019

And in the lowlight of the week, the Panthers-Bucs game endured the dreaded weather delay. And fans handled it about as typically as you’d expect an NFL fan base to respond, with a massive brawl!

Rain delays in Carolina = Fight Club @roughnrowdy pic.twitter.com/SLD6wpGDOD

— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) September 13, 2019

Every week we pan for comedy gold in the comments section of our Facebook posts. If your comment cracks us up (or warms our hearts) we’ll showcase it here!

Here’s this week’s roundup of the 10 Best Comments of the Week:

1. Yippee Ki Yay Mouse Friends

2. Rude Awakening

3. The Roos Shall Inherit The Earth

4. Nothing to See Here

5. Wine

6. It’s All For The Kids

7. Bangers

8. Perfect Vision

9. He Rose to the Occasion

10. Measures Up

Check out the previous edition of The Best Comments of the Week here.

We’ve seen a whole variety of bad dads here on Dad Grades. From the axe-weilding Jack Torrance to the criminally inattentive dad from Home Alone, there’s certainly no shortage of substandard fictional matriarchs to rake over the coals. But this one, Harry Wormwood, the crooked, nasty, negligent dad from Matilda, seems to exist in his own category. A dad so cartoonishly antagonistic we’re not fully convinced he qualifies as a dad. Let’s take a look at this slimeball.

STRENGTHS

Matilda is the story of Matilda, a little girl with a big brain. A responsible set of parents might reign in such intelligence, encouraging them to learn piano and speak foreign languages, Matilda’s parents, Harry and Zinnia, would much rather watch intellectually bankrupt game shows and belittle her.

The film’s premise is grounded in the neglect of its titular character, mostly by her father, Harry Wormwood.

Harry Wormwood is the personification of sleaze. As such, the movie doesn’t exactly give us a lot to work with in the strength department. You rarely find morsels of good in men who scowl at their newborns from the maternity ward hallway.

But if we really want to stretch, there is one way Harry Wormwood is accidentally a good dad. Gifted children learn best when they have carte blanche to do so. Studies have shown that, when left to their own devices, smart kids will blossom.

As a young child, Matilda is left home alone all day, despite her pleas to be enrolled in school. She learned to cook her own breakfast.

She taught herself how to read.

Her independence only seemed to accelerate her understanding of the world around her. She was in fact neglected so hard that her intellectual prowess sails right past piano prodigy and landed on telekinesis.

Obviously we’re not suggesting you ignore your child in the hopes that they cultivate mental superpowers. And even if it were possible, the emotional neglect is far more likely to produce a Carrie than a Matilda.

WEAKNESSES

Harry Wormwood is a rotten man. The narrator (who is, inexplicably, also Danny Devito?) makes this known within the first couple of minutes:

“Harry and Zinnia Wormwood lived in a very nice neighborhood, in a very nice house, but they were not really very nice people.”

Eager to one day hand down the family business to his obnoxious son, Michael, Harry sells used cars, employing such deceitful practices as manually rolling back miles on odometers.

His parenting skills aren’t any less illicit than his salesmanship. He constantly chastises Matilda for being objectively smarter than him, quick to dismiss her a “smart-aleck” in lieu of praise.

At one point, he catches his daughter reading a book. She tells him she’s enjoying Moby Dick by Herman Melville. Where a good dad might seize this opportunity to lovingly cultivate an interest in the printed word, Harry Wormwood just exclaims

“MOBY WHAT?”

and tears the book to shreds, insisting she instead partake in quality time with her family around the television.

Eventually, Harry relents and agrees to enroll Matilda in school. There are many things a good parent will consider when choosing a school for their kid: location, standards and curriculum, lunch menus. Harry on the other hand? Harry uses his daughter’s education as a bargaining chip, enrolling her only after selling a lemon to the school’s monstrous, tyrannic principal, Agatha Trunchbull, seen here shot-putting a kid by her pigtails.

In spite of routine attempts to murder her students, Harry views Ms. Trunchbull as the ruthless disciplinary figure who will once reign in his unruly bookworm of a kid.

Eventually, Harry gets busted. The FBI finally expose his shady dealings at the used car lot, prompting Harry to pack up and move the family to Guam. Matilda doesn’t want to go, as she’s grown fond of her sweet, exceedingly more maternal teacher, Ms. Honey. She suggests Ms. Honey adopt her, having secured adoption papers from the library at a young age, and Harry agrees.

And frankly, this is best thing he ever does as Matilda’s dad: stops being Matilda’s dad.

VERDICT

One of the worst fictional dads we’ve looked into. Just wholly unfit to raise children. It’s quite baffling that the FBI got to him before Child Protective Services could.

FINAL GRADE: F

We live in divisive times and, apparently, Sony is ready to pile on the debate train by casually tossing out information that has rocked the gaming community.

Ever since the release of the original PlayStation, we’ve been accustomed to the traditional Sony controller layout—triangle, circle, square, and ‘ex’—but as it turns out, we’ve been wrong… dupped… HOODWINKED.

According to PlayStation, their primary action button isn’t ‘ex’ but rather ‘cross.’

Triangle
Circle
Cross
Square

If Cross is called X (it’s not), then what are you calling Circle?🤔 https://t.co/dvQ19duemW

— PlayStation UK (@PlayStationUK) September 5, 2019

“If Cross is called X (it’s not), then what are you calling Circle?” PlayStation UK tweeted (not at all condescendingly).

Look, in the nearly 25 years that PlayStation has been around, I have never once heard someone call it the ‘cross’ button, and apparently, the stats are in my favor.

According to a Twitter poll posted by PlayStation (surveying an astounding 168,000+ accounts), a measly 8% claimed to call it a ‘cross’ button.

What do you call it?

— PlayStation (@PlayStation) September 7, 2019

Fortunately, other big names in the gaming community have our backs when it comes to the ‘X’ button, too.

Xbox went ahead and weighed in on the controversy, effectively throwing PlayStation under the bus with a tweet of their own.

No matter what you call it, one thing that unites us all is the X button.

Happy #NationalVideoGamesDay @PlayStation @NintendoAmerica – and everyone! pic.twitter.com/kj2jSUo53X

— Xbox (@Xbox) September 12, 2019

Notice, their console is not called the ‘Crossbox.’

In PlayStation’s defense, though, as Twitter user @SIECrimson pointed out, the spaces between the sticks in a cross are equidistant while those in an ‘ex’ are not.

pic.twitter.com/dpUMOfyke0

— PlayStation UK (@PlayStationUK) September 5, 2019

So, whether you call it a ‘cross’ or an ‘ex,’ it only further proves that there’s always someone somewhere on the internet ready to tell you that you’re wrong. And don’t expect that to change with the release of the PS5.

Facing that empty nest after all the kids are finally old enough to move out is about as bittersweet as it gets. Sure, you’re proud of their independence and your success in raising stable human beings (for the most part) who can fend for themselves, but they’re also your pride and joy and part of you wishes you could hold onto them forever.

This is the exact experience Bud Barber is going through as he sees his three sons off to college one by one.

Bud and the Barber boys had a weekly tradition of heading over the local Dairy Queen for a little post-dinner dessert. Sure, ice cream is great but the real treat was the quality bonding time between all four of them.

But Brooks had to go and make his family proud by going to college (the nerve of this kid, right?), effectively removing a quarter of the Barber ice cream gang.

Of course, to no one’s surprise, the younger Barbers—Bryce and Luke—went ahead and followed in their elder brother’s footsteps, leaving dad to wander to their DQ and sit in their family booth all by his lonesome. At least he had ice cream ready and available to soothe his sorrows.

“With them not here it’s just ice cream,” Bud wrote on Instagram, accompanied by no one and nothing but a proud yet melancholic smirk.

Reading his father’s bittersweet posts, Brooks couldn’t help but share the heartfelt words in a Twitter post, which has since gone insanely viral, garnering nearly 1 million likes.

Why did my dad have to go this hard on insta and why am I crying in Nashville rn pic.twitter.com/Bv7fCfnE2g

— Börks (@BrooksBarber) August 31, 2019

People can’t seem to get enough of the Barber father-sons bonding time, even going as far as to demand they call it quits with school so they can go eat some dang ice cream with dear ol’ pops again.

u all have to drop out of college

— 𝒸𝑜𝓊𝓇𝓉 (@ConsciousCourty) August 31, 2019

Ok so all of you need to drop out now😭 pic.twitter.com/cxLmvzSG8w

— It’s PrettyMuch (@Riiyahhh) August 31, 2019

Others volunteered to take the boys’ spots so they could finally get some quality time with a caring dad themselves.

where is this DQ? I’ll meet him there for ice cream haha

— tb (@taylorbizzle) September 1, 2019

We all showing up at DQ next time like pic.twitter.com/KS1n9ZSCah

— 𝐞𝐥 𝐩𝐫é𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭é (@eIpresidentepk) September 1, 2019

Fortunately, Brooks has since reassured everyone that the Barber DQ runs will definitely recommence sooner rather than later, so no one needs to go storming the premises for some “hot eats” or “cool treats” just yet.

To give everyone some piece of mind, my dad and I have an incredible relationship and yes my little brothers and I will be heading back to DQ with pops soon

— Börks (@BrooksBarber) September 1, 2019

All this to say, cherish every moment with your kids. They will fly the coop before you know it.

PRO TIP: Ice cream certainly won’t hurt your time together either, apparently.