Hanging on to max

Sam is a 17 year old boy and has already at this age thrown himself into a matter of huge responsibility. Beeing a teenager you have issues with yourself in the path of searching yourself. But Sam doesn't only have this, he has his baby to care for additionally - Max.

Over these few chapters I got an impression of Sam as a boy who is very intelligent. He appears to be a person with a rather high status among the teenagers but is mature enough to prioritize this privilege for his own son's sake. Sam is torn between his adolescence and these high demands that is put on him. Therefore he gets overwhelmed with frustration. The "teenage life absence" seems to have really made an impact on him refering to his gloomy mood but at the same time we see a glimpse of humour when he conversed with Claire (chapter 5).Sam is eager to be acknowledged within the adult section, that he is perfectly capable of handling chores. At the day care the girls were mocking him indirectly like he wouln't know how to buy groceries. At the moment Max seems to be a burden, but we'll se in the process if the relationship is different.
Sam's Father
I got the impression of Sam's father as being somewhat cold toward Sam and the whole situation of his son having a baby. But what I presume is that his father worries about his son and don't know how to act. Sam lost his mother at early age therefore the father was struck by a mountain of responsebility. Now the same happened to Sam, he was abandoned by his girlfriend to take care of their son. Hence Sam's father is possibly grieving and frustrates because his son got to experience the same.