The babysitter is father to the man.

[dreadedcandiru2]

Let's take a bit closer look at Mike's first attempt at baby-sitting the Nichols children so as to gain some sort of clue to his present-day behavior. As you will recall, the sorry little sack of crap felt as if he'd deserved hazard pay because he was too fragile to cope with normal, high-spirited children who didn't think that they were supposed to be bossed around by some dumb kid their folks hired to watch over them. He'd threatened one of them with violence because he couldn't cope, he whined over the least thing and when faced with the soul-scarring horror of changing a diaper, he blubbered for Mamma!!!!!

Anyone reading this would chortle about his being a weakling and hope that he'd grow a pair before having kids of his own. Sadly, when that prayer was answered, it was in the negative. Twenty years have passed and Mike is still running around being traumatized by the baffling, pant's-soiling terror of small children being the same sort of dunce he used to be, reacting as if being in their presence when it's not convenient is proof that he's a hero, wishing that he could prove his point by sitting on them and bleating pathetically for Deanna to save him from the incomprehensible little demi-humans who terrify and blindside him with their demands on his time.

Whence comes this lack of moral fibre? Being raised in an environment where identifying with the emotional needs of others is regarded as a venial sin. Since putting one's self in the other person's shoes is regarded as being enslaved by that person, it's sort of obvious why Mike is such a weak sister: he can't cope because he was raised not to.