Nate’s parenting to The Trio represents different age ranges of kids to me
The way he interacts with each of them to me shows he’s filling different age range needs
Yes they’re all adults & friends but they’re also a family & the parenting writing for Nate & Sophie is intentional so leaning into that makes sense but there’s a difference to me in how Sophie as the team mum is written vs Nate to each trio as the team dad
Sophie with everyone is usually motherly & naturing. Used to get them to through what they need getting through or be able to help themselves or get calm enough to continue the job or advice on how to interact with the mark, there’s a goal to her advice & helping the kids, she also corrects nate on his behaviour to “the kids” as a parent would to the other parent or talks to the kids about Nate’s behaviour
Nate’s parenting for each of the 3 is different in my opinion
With Elliot it’s more of an older teen type of thing he doesn’t metaphorically ground him or place consequences on him instead he gives him information & choices & advice sometimes scolds him but it feels more giving him the tools & information to make his own choices Elliot is more developed emotionally & in terms of individual world experiences than the other two. Nate is more of a sounding board, Elliot also often talks to Nate as a friend or calls out his behaviour or issues it’s more of a give & take as it can be with older teens/young adults
With Hardison I see it more has young teen or older child a lot of it is keeping him on task, pushing him to achieve what he can but thinks he can’t plus Hardison’s role of technology & Nate doesn’t know anything about that stuff so that’s another parents don’t get the technology angle. Hardison can written juvenile at times with video games & orange soda & pop culture/age of the geek stuff - not saying this is childish in itself but in his role in the team it is, his celebrations & rambles ect he’s got the enthusiasm & excitement. Like the gold job Nate guides him as a parent, lets him make the mistakes & learn the lesson but has the back up plan to help/save him & he’s clearly in trouble like a kid would be for staying up late playing video games for the airplane job
Parker is the young child with her mentality in a lot of ways, there’s a lot of “put it back parker” lol testing boundaries. She’s usually mentored in a way that’s gentle but teaches her but doesn’t usually punish her although the juror job was as a punishment for not listening (also Parker treats Alice as an imaginary friend of sorts who’s seperate to her & the team remind her she is Alice). Then there’s the psychic episode where they help her through her emotions. Parker has the childish viewpoint eg the Christmas episode believing in Santa, they usually indulge her interests & world view or correct her but she’s also pulled into line as needed & taught how her actions impact others which is more of a young child lesson. She’s the one who is raised the most by the team/Nate through the series from a closed off aloof loner thief to being the new mastermind & running the team & connecting with clients in a way she couldn’t have without Nate & Sophie as ‘parents’
Even though he lost Sam Nate is able to continue to be a parent through all phases with his team
Just random crap I’m thinking of as I watch
If I’d taken notes earlier on this idea I’d have more proof/info/examples to point to but this is off the top of my head