What Did Your Father Teach You When You Were 10 That Most Adults Don't Know Today...?

[hotrodder636]

Taught me how to do drywall work, work on an engine, basic plumbing. I am sure there is more but those are the things that immediately come to mind.

[P2Vaircrewman]

Measure twice, cut once, my dad was a carpenter.

[fedupflyer]

That a good portion of the population live above their means.
Two nice cars in the driveway, a nice house and maybe a boat and some toys but yet cant afford to heat/cool the place and have to fiance repairs.
But yet a chicken farmer that I thought barely had two nickels to rub together would come in a buy a complete new top of the line kitchen and pay cash.

I grew up in the white goods biz and saw the interior of many houses.

[SteyrAUG]

That a good portion of the population live above their means.
Two nice cars in the driveway, a nice house and maybe a boat and some toys but yet cant afford to heat/cool the place and have to fiance repairs.
But yet a chicken farmer that I thought barely had two nickels to rub together would come in a buy a complete new top of the line kitchen and pay cash.

I grew up in the white goods biz and saw the interior of many houses.

I used to explain to people that while I can finance a Ferrari, I can't afford a Ferrari, usually to blank stares. Most people live at the extreme of their credit limit. My "won the lotto" day came when I sold my house and moved, and was able to pay off all of my credit cards / financing and put 80% down on the house I'm in.

I don't have any credit cards, if the money isn't in the bank, I can't afford to buy it. My combined monthly expenses are 1/3 of what most people are paying just on their mortgage.

[Hank6046]

My father died when I was very young, and so most of my lessons come from my Grandpa. He was a very successful business man in the Mid-sized city he lived in, he owned several businesses and was car dealer who ended up in a partnership where he had stake in about 16 different dealerships located in the Dakota's, Minnesota, Iowa, and Montana. There was so many times growing up I would see him with a broom or a shovel cleaning the dealership lots, picking up random trash that others would just walk by, his pride of ownership and attention to detail, that always stuck with me. He could have paid another employee to do the job but he wasn't above cleaning the toilets' or taking out the trash no matter how much money or power in the company he had.

[THCDDM4]

My experience is a little different than most here- my dad was not very present or engaged in my life until my 30’s.

By not being around and when he was around not making great choices, he showed me basically how NOT to do things,l and how NOT to be a father- which is an equally important lesson in ways and one that most adults don’t know today as well, unfortunately.

[SteyrAUG]

My experience is a little different than most here- my dad was not very present or engaged in my life until my 30’s.

By not being around and when he was around not making great choices, he showed me basically how NOT to do things,l and how NOT to be a father- which is an equally important lesson in ways and one that most adults don’t know today as well, unfortunately.

At least you had your shit together enough to learn from a negative example. Probably the hardest way to learn about being a good person.

I've got some friends who are outstanding fathers because they either didn't have one at all or had a terrible one. I remember them in high school saying "I'll never be like that."

[Diamondback]

This is why I say at the greatest gift my biological father gave me in my life was his absence from it, making room for better men to set better examples.

[Averageman]

At least you had your shit together enough to learn from a negative example. Probably the hardest way to learn about being a good person.

I've got some friends who are outstanding fathers because they either didn't have one at all or had a terrible one. I remember them in high school saying "I'll never be like that."

Everybody's a Cowboy until it's time to saddle up.
I was a Single Dad and it's the most rewarding and yet difficult job ever. It's easy to say "I would do this." or "I would do that.".
It's a little different when you're balancing a budget, going to daycare and then work, then daycare, then College, then home at 20:00 hrs and doing laundry.
Most rewarding thing I ever did, but I honestly don't know how I did it. To hear someone who's never been in the drivers seat say "I would never be like that.", just means you don't know or can't relate.
You get to make some shitty decisons as a Dad.

[Pappabear]

My father taught me to lead by example. He was a minister but never a minister to me, but he walked the walk and was the greatest Dad anyone could ever ask for in a Dad. Never once recited the Bible, NEVER. But lived it every day.

On snakes growing up in KY, most snakes were safe. So walking to the mall we ran into a nest of snakes, someone yelled "SNAKES", we all reached down and grabbed some. Put them in shoe boxes and let them go in the mall. Cool how they slide in a mall floor. I kept mine and took it home, my fathers said hand it to me, "its a cotton mouth, lets take him to the creek". Lesson learned.

PB