Michael Jackson as a Father

[Modbert]

UNCOVERING THE LIVES OF MICHAEL JACKSON'S KIDS AFTER HIS DEATH - New York Post

He also fathered by example -- and showed them how to take responsibility for themselves, one record producer told Jackson biographer J. Randy Taraborrelli. Prince Michael once spilled popcorn on the studio floor, and the producer bent over to clean up the mess, fearing Jacko would have a diva-like tantrum.

Instead, the megastar apologized.

"He's my kid. I'll clean up after him," Jackson said, according to Taraborrelli.

The producer recalled, "I looked down and there's Michael Jackson on his hands and knees picking up his son's popcorn. I'm not sure you would see Madonna doing that."

"He wanted them to have a chance at a childhood which he never had," friend Price recalled. "He wanted to make sure they played, because they are kids first and foremost. He made sure they were taken care of, but he understood the difference between a need and a want. He knew to give them a solid foundation to be good people, and that's what I saw in these kids: bright, intelligent, good people."

"He wasn't a disciplinarian but he didn't let the kids run the roost or be spoiled rotten," Stuart Backerman, a former adviser and publicist for Jackson from 2002 to 2004, told The Post.

He recalled a moment in 2004 when he walked through Neverland's kitchen and a 6-year-old Paris spit out her food -- drawing a quietly stern reaction from Jackson.

"Michael looked up and told her, 'We don't spit out food and we don't talk badly about other people in this house, and we have good manners,' " Backerman recalled.

Sounds like to me he was an excellent father. He may of not always been the most mature emotionally but it seems like he raised the kids pretty damn well. He kept them grounded, taught them manners, and provided everything they needed along with probably everything they wanted without spoiling them rotten.