[Does he? Boy does he. The touch to the kid stays light even when his feelings grow heavier. Anything he wants to say, he should say now even for fear of fucking it up.]

Yeah, I do. It's a part of you. And if you feel like this is where you need to work shit on out, well, like I said. I'm your man. I wanna be there.

[Keep walking, nice and easy now. This is a vital discussion but treating it like it's nothing helps the words come on out better.]

Even though I'm almost fifty--I'm still learning. I did--[Wait, no.] I do worry about what there might be out there to learn or know for you. There's always going to be something. I want you to be sure that you know that.

[And maybe protect him from it however he can without hindering this learning process.]