GotG2 spoilers here so don’t read if you’re still waiting to see it.
I did wonder that too briefly as I definitely
didn’t recollect him being a good father, but I suppose it’s more of a Darth Vader/Luke style redemption story, “I’ve fucked up everything including raising you, but you’re still infinitely more important to me than my own life.”
(Also, reading snippets of an interview with Michael Rooker, he seems to have been playing Yondu in the original a bit different/softer than he actually ended up in the finished product. I’m not sure we were meant to come away thinking he was an abusive father, rather just… an amoral space pirate father. Oh, I don’t know. I’d have to watch the original again.)