Best or most memorable fatherly advice?
 

from your Dad &/or by you as a Dad?

what comes to mind for me is, my Dad telling me to drive cautiously, so I can lay off the brakes, thereby letting the brakes last longer

I suppose one would have to ask my kids, but I hope they remember me saying: "you're going to a party & you're going to have fun, because it's a party. you don't need drugs or alcohol to have fun at the party"

disclaimer: I have no control over what others contribute

Ride your bicycle.

Dad: Never buy cast iron skillets.
​​​​​​​Me: Never pick up anything heavier than a woman's underskirt.

My dad and his hiking group never let ANY type of weather stop their weekly Sunday hikes. The only time a hike was canceled was when there was so much snow that no one could get into the parking lot at the forest preserve where the hike was held. Not his exact words, but I'm sure his sentiment regarding bad weather would be "suck it up, buttercup".

As a young teenager I was trying to pin down my Dad's opinion on what was most important; big muscles, strength, endurance...

His answer was the most important is what you do with what you have.

"A man that straddles the fence, gets a sore crotch."
It means: "Make the best decision you can and act on it."

My father gave me a system for evaluating your job. Ask yourself three questions.

1. Do you enjoy the work? (Are you learning from it? Is it interesting?)
2. Is it socially fulfilling? (Do you enjoy your cow-orker's company? Do you see them after hours?)
3. Is the money good?

If you can say yes to two of these, be grateful, and it's probably as good as it will get.

Dad had a poster hanging in his office. It said the following, "The only mistake I made is when I thought I was wrong and I was mistaken."

Raising a child is the most beautiful pain in the ass...you need to cherish every moment.

In order to foster an interest in "DiY" and learning, my father stated " The difference between you and a Professional... is that the Professional gets paid".
Stuck with me.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...c7a4972fad.jpg
When I was in high school, I told my father I wanted to apply my math and science abillities to doing some good in the world. He replied, "Then you'll be an engineer, and I'll kill you if you do that. :) "

(He was a second-generation engineer; I am a fourth-generation engineer from my mother's side of the family. My elder grandson doesn't know it yet, but his dad and I are already prepping him to be a 6th generation engineer.)

At age 12, as is the redneck tradition, my dad gave me a single shot, bolt action .22 rifle.
Now I expect my mom may have had something to do with gun safety rules he pounded repeatedly into my young brain. I've never forgotten them.
Still have the little rifle, too.

According to my pops, "Never trust a man that wears suspenders and a belt"
My advice to my son, "It's the easiest thing in the world to move in with a woman, but the hardest thing in the world to move out"

Dad's relationship advice: " If you both give 90% of the way, you can almost meet in the middle." Dad's other classic: "Measure twice, cut once." Both have proven sound over the years.

Actually, I heard that advice from Trudy, an artist I met when I was around 12 years old. She was a friend of my family. Despite being an artist and eccentric Trudy was still of very sensible German stock. When she was driving she'd give out pointers about safe and economical car handling.

I didn't grow up with my dad, but from my stepfather I heard "A man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's a heaven for?" Robert Browning probably meant it differently. But my stepdad, while an okay guy, was a player. Imagine Gene Simmons of KISS with a conservative haircut. They could have been twins.

I'm pretty sure Robert Browning didn't have hitting on as many woman as possible in a lifetime in mind when he first wrote that phrase.

NEVER forget your wife's birthday or your anniversary date.
Jon

On casinos: "Son, those places aren't made to make people like you and me rich."

I grew up watching my Dad come home every night completely fearful he would be laid off from his engineering job (this was the late 60s and early 70s and engineers were being laid off in droves). I promised myself that whatever and engineer was, I would never have it for my profession.

Then I took physics in high school. I was hooked. I think it's in the genes. But the good news is that the job outlook was so bad when I started college,almost no one went to engineering school. By the time I graduated, all you needed to get a job was a pulse. I had one, so I got a job. I ended up going to the dark side sometime later, although I still consider myself an engineer at heart.

Best advice I got from my Dad?

"You've got the world by the ass, and you don't even know it. Make something of yourself!"

My Dad gave me the 7 P's of life Prior Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance live by them...….

Two sayings, "It will get better, always, believe me," "hardest thing you will ever do in life, making a marriage last." First one always works, second one....divorced twice...think he was right. Goddamn, I miss him.

"When pursuing your desires, never start out with a compromise. Go after what you really want. You can always compromise back to reality later."

True story -- my maternal grandparents were raised in the small mining town of New Castle, CO. Her father, John Ritter, co-owned the Ritter-MacRae General Store. newcastlecolorado.org/museum-on-the-street

Wanting to show his kids the evils of slot machines, he took them to a local casino and said, "This is a bad machine -- it takes your money. See? ..." Unfortunately, he hit a modest jackpot, which reduced the value of his sermon.