What’s the best piece of advice your father gave you?

50 comments

  2. I wish I could answer this 😔. Since I never had a father, I wish the best advice I could have gotten was to be loyal no matter how how many people turn on you. To be the kindest person to everyone no matter how bitter people are. To work hard, don’t do drugs and just live the best life possible.

  6. Don’t engage with people who would tear you down in an attempt to pull themselves up.

  7. In regards to first day jitters before embarking on new endeavors- “Even if this ends up being not what you want or doesn’t work out, no one can take away what knowledge you will gain. “

  8. In regards to first day jitters before embarking on new endeavors- “Even if this ends up being not what you want or doesn’t work out, no one can take away what knowledge you will gain. “

  14. Not specific advice, but example.

    I think I heard my dad raise his voice at my mom only one time growing up. They were arguing. After they’d calmed down, my dad had me & my siblings come into the living room with them. He explained that regardless of their disagreement or who was right, he was wrong to raise his voice at our mother. Then he apologized to her in front of us.

    Manliest thing I’ve ever seen in my near 50 years.

  15. You don’t ask you don’t get.

    Even if he would end up saying no he would always praise me for having the backbone to ask for what I wanted.

  16. Two pieces that have been good:

    – Your life will end three times: When you get married, when you buy a house, and when you have kids.

    Said to me on my wedding day. Took me a few years to get it but it’s absolutely correct. The life you lead before each of those significant events is different than the life you lead after. And it’s nearly impossible to go back to the previous life too. So before you embark on any of those adventures, be ready for things to change. Be ready to give up some things that you used to do. Be ready to start doing some new things. And accept that this life is the life you chose by moving forward.

    – The best time to find a job is when you have one.

    Doesn’t mean you job hop every three months, but it does mean that you should always keep your resume up to date, keep your eyes open for new opportunities, and be ready to jump if you find something that is objectively better. If you quit first, or are laid off/fired, then you’re stuck taking whatever you can get that pays the bills. If you look while your bills are managed (or at least somewhat managed), then you can be selective and pick something better.

  19. Go to college. Get at least a 4 year degree.

    Of course he didn’t add the part where me going to college was his retirement plan. :/

  20. Take a good long look at her mother, cause that’s who she’ll be in 30 years.

  21. In a lifetime of living with my dad I don’t think he’s ever given me advice for anything

  22. Don’t wait for the right moment—just make the moment right.” Still waiting for that perfect time to use it, though.

  23. Always protect yourself. Don’t believe declarations of *”I’m on birth control, I was checked when I was 16 and told I’m infertile, I’m not ovulating right now”*

    It’s a trap.

  24. The world is filled with those who lack respect.

    But you are not owed respect.

    You must earn the respect of every person you meet. You are not entitled to it for any reason.

    But neither is anyone else. If they don’t earn your respect, you do not have to give it. They have to earn it just like you do.

    That doesn’t mean go be an asshole. That means you respect everyone you meet, but you can also withdraw it at any time. As can they withdraw their respect from you.

  30. Don’t know if it’s ‘best’ but here goes. He told me that if a father ever came to our door stating that his daughter was pregnant, “You’re ass is mine.” (Translation for younger people = I’m probably going to be severely beaten). That was when I was 14yrs old. The other was that I will always fight more with my own race than another. I’m 62 now. I’ve been married twice with no kids. The fighting part was absolutely true. These aren’t ‘best’, but the 1st could be why I never wanted children. The 2nd was absolutely true 💯

  33. nothing. no offense, but my parents giving advice is either bad or not really relatable. i have also never really needed them for advice.

  34. Dont stress about finding a girl, work on yourself she’ll come to you when the time is right.

  35. “Beware of self-proclaimed religious people”, and holy shit was he right, now I have my faith but some of the worst things done to me have been done by people who claimed they were deeply christians but are some of the most vile and scummy people i’ve met in my life.

  36. You can put off a lot of tasks, but most things only get more difficult with time, and there is no avoiding them forever.

    Now go do the dishes like I told you to yesterday.

  37. I’m a woman but can I chime in? My dad is a boomer so a lot of his personal advice was sucky misogynistic crap.

    However, career wise, when I was waffling about what job to take he told me that he felt I had the mental fortidude for sales, in his words, you can make $200/hr but there are only so many hours in a day, whereas sales you get what you put in and there is no limit.

    He did a variety of jobs growing up but when I was 12 he started in insurance, then grew to be a broker/financial advisor and is now retired and a millionaire, not that it will benefit me I’m for sure out of the will because I left the religion. Still solid advice though and has served me well.

  39. Not advice that he actually gave me, but what I learned from watching him be my father as I was growing up…and that was how NOT to be a parent. I knew how my dad was with me and my brother, and I promised my son the day he was born that I would never be like that with him, and made sure I was very involved in his life while he was growing up.

  41. That if you believe things to be one way, and everyone you know/important to you believes it to be another way, what are the odds you’re right and everyone else is wrong?

    The girl I was with at the time, I thought was perfect. My entire family and all my friends tried to warn me, but you know how it is with young love. “They just can’t see you like I see you” and all those stupid teenager clichés

    That single piece of advice really made me start looking at things differently and it wasn’t long until the rose-colored glasses fell off

  42. “Learn to cook, you’ll be a bachelor for at least awhile and you might not marry a woman who can cook, lord knows I didn’t.”

    Started cooking when I was Five. Was a chef for 9 years.

  43. No one who isn’t close to you cares enough about you to justify how self-conscious you are. Caring this much about the opinions of strangers is self defeating. Just try things. If you fail, even if you make a fool of yourself, people might comment or even laugh. But their laughter will be short lived. Soon they will forget you. And you will have tried something new you can learn from and build on.

  46. Not really advise but more of a pick me up. as a lot of young soldiers do I got married after an extremely short time of dating. Literally 2 or 3 months (you get paid more for being married) I was young and I honestly thought my parents would kill me so I kept it from them for months, close to a year. When it finally came out my dad said he would have liked to have been at the wedding. I said it wasn’t a big deal and we didn’t have money for a wedding and it was just a court house thing. Then he asked why I didn’t tell me and I said I didn’t want him to be mad or ashamed of me for making that decision. And I could feel his sincerity when he looked at me almost in tears and said he could never be ashamed of me.

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