What's an example of a different approach you've taken to raising your kids compared to the way you were raised?

I was raised in poverty, and I remember times when my Mother and Father would go without just to make sure me and siblings could have just the bare essentials provided. So I've taken great measures to ensure that my children are financially taken care of, especially in case of a situation where I am longer around to do so. That said. I have a somewhat complicated relationship with all my children. I'm somewhere between an absent dad and a disney dad. My work means a lot to me, and I've always been loathe to put it aside for any real length of time. That has changed somewhat in recent years with most of my children now in their teens and becoming a bit more proactive in seeking me out. Most of my children have lots of contact with me, some have barely any, and a few have either been told that I died or are being raised as another mans children. I'm a Boiengineer by trade. A lot of my work involves A.I., Bionics, Cybernetics, Genetics, Robotics, Ponics and various other fields involved in experimental technologies. This tends to make my solutions to mundane everyday problems somewhat, exotic... Like the time my son complained to me about being short one day and I sincerly suggested leg lengthening surgery, and his Mother got very irrate at me for planting that idea in his head, instead of telling him to accept himself. In that similar vein, I can't lie to my children. One of my sons asked me if he was ugly and how I'd rate him. I said "Yes my Son, you are ugly." and I gave him an unbiased rating of 2 out of 10. He then asked for advice, and I gave some honest advice with realistic milestones to achieve and to his credit he took my advice to heart and sits a respectable 8.2 out of 10. He's been contemplating plastic surgey after I told him I got some work done when I was 18. His Mother didn't find out about this until just recently, she was furious with me. Apparently good parents don't tell their children that they're ugly. Still I have my doubts that he'd have made the changes and gone to the lengths he had gone if I hadn't said anything to him. My children often come to me with problems and issues they otherwise wouldn't tell their Mother's about. Which does strain their relationship, making their Mother seem like the boring strict parent, while I'm the exciting easy going disney dad. Except, I'm only the disney dad when I'm present, most of the time I'm the absent father. A lot my children who leave their mother's thinking they'll come live with me instead move out of my house and go live with my Mother and Grandmothers instead. A few have persisted, and still remain, and last year I was around more often and this year is likely to follow a similar pattern as the company has been seriously cracking down on workaholics within the workplace.