There are decisions that shift the household’s equilibrium—when to call in a plumber, whether to sign the papers for the car, how to set the rules for screen time—and he navigates them like someone steering by landmarks learned in childhood. He can be firm without being cruel, stern without being distant. He knows which phrases soothe and which shut down conversation. He keeps lists and makes contingency plans, not because he loves control, but because responsibility has a way of creeping into the smallest creases of daily life.