Well... An example of what?

Kids need examples of what not to do. It's good to be at least one of them

What?? Talk to her about that and tell her how that made you feel and that talking to your child like that is unacceptable and inappropriate. Good luck OP.

Dude, you need—*looks at OP's gender*—chick, you need to set your wife straight (but not too straight) and be the best she-father you can! And if it's any consolation, people say I'm an example of a concept introduced one page 91 of a calculus textbook. There's just something about my face, but despite my best efforts to look differential, they never say I'm a /good/ example.

Maybe she meant the birth father... (I'm just guessing, don't hate me!)

Let her hear you talking to the kid: your mother has to be a bad nutcase, look all she could find was a not good example.. Guess I could have done better than her.... Maybe it's not too late..

Maybe you're missing the context of the discussion, hopefully she wasn't bagging you - but - it's not good to get into the habit of dising the other parent in front of children. Kids love their parents no matter how crumby they are and it hurts the kid to have someone else put their parent down.

Wife referring to Father (male?) as bad example. Poster is female. Mildly confused.

An example of what?