Father’s Day, 5 Life Lessons I Learned from My Dad

Father’s Day is coming up quick and, like usual, I have no ideas of what I could get or say to my dad in order to let him know how much I love and care for him and how much I appreciate everything he has done for me. Showing emotions is not something he taught me to do and he always told us, as kids, not to spend any money on him so he probably does not expect a lot. I will probably get him a card and maybe I will send him the link to this article so that he knows the impact he has had on my life and the lessons I have learned from following his example.

One of the first things people usually learned about my family was that my mom and dad had 5 girls and no boys. This bit of knowledge was usually followed by the statement, “Oh your poor dad!” Yes, I will admit that as my sisters and I got older, into our teenage years, we became much more emotional and I guess difficult to deal with.

I remember on multiple occasions when two or more sisters would gang up on my dad saying, “Stop yelling at her,” his response, “I’m not yelling,” other sister, “yes you were!” This was followed by him throwing his hands in the air and disappearing into his room. It must have been hard being the only male in a house full of drama queens.

1. The Importance of a Good Education
2. The Benefits of a Good Job/Hard Work
3. Letting go of Things You Can't Control
4. The Ugliness of Gossip
5. Not Wasting Time/Energy/Emotions

A life lesson is something from which you can gain/learn useful knowledge or principles. I was taught at home by my mom (until high school) and my dad worked during the day, which means most of the life lessons and knowledge I gained during my childhood were taught by my mom.

I learned a lot of great lessons from my mom and each day I realize more and more that my personality is very similar to my mother’s. But there are a few life lessons I learned as I grew up that I know came from the example and teachings of my dad.

The first life lesson my dad taught me was the importance of a good education. He did this by becoming actively involved when I was applying/attending a 4 year university. He taught me that it is extremely important to be able to take care of myself financially and in order to do that I needed to have a good/higher level of education.

Both my dad and my mom talked about their college experiences and how they were some of the best experiences they had during their young/single adult lives. I remember my dad saying, “College is one of the few places where you can be pretty selfish and it is actually acceptable and even encouraged. College is about you and what you can get out of the experience.”

After my first year of college I came home for a semester to work and save money. This was one of the first times I realized that I gained my work ethic from my dad. I realized this because I had two, sometimes three jobs at one time and I knew that the time and energy was worth it because I was going to be able to save up enough for school supplies and for a car.

I worked one part time job as a lifeguard in the mornings from 7 – 11 a.m. I then worked a second full time job in the cafeteria of the nearby college from 11:30 a.m. – 8:00 p.m. My third job came when I would volunteer to set up for different sporting events on weekends at the college. I was exhausted most the time and I hardly had time for a real life outside of work, not to mention even having time to do laundry, but my dad taught me the value of hard work through example and I wanted to prove that I could make it through.

My dad has a good job that he loves, he is the Director of Career Services at Rose Hulman Institute of Technology, and he knows and shows by example the benefits of acquiring a good job/career.

Though I still have a hard time actually putting this life lesson into practice, I know it is important and that sometimes it is best to just let go of the things you cannot control. I have a hard time with this because, like my mom, I tend to worry and care about everything and everyone around me which causes me to stress; even over things I have absolutely no control over.

Though it is not the best thing to do in every situation, learning to be ok and let go of the things you have no control over is a skill I am still trying to perfect.

Growing up with four younger sisters, gossip was something that came naturally. I don’t know why, but girls always seem to care about and talk about more than boys do. Of course talking about someone and gossiping about someone are two different things; unfortunately my family had a habit of doing both.

My dad, though he does slip up occasionally, does not often talk about other people and he hardly ever gossips. When he did walk in on us girls gossiping he would simply say, “Why are you talking about that?” knowing he disliked it and knowing he disapproved helped me to be a little more aware of what I said behind other’s backs. This will probably be something I work on my entire life.

As a teenager you need more sleep, I think that fact has been proven scientifically and even if it has not I know I slept more as a teenager than I do now even as a pregnant woman! My dad let us sleep in on the weekends, he never forced us to get up (for which I was very grateful) but I do remember him coming into our rooms and saying, “Ya lazy bunch of good for nothins!” as he laughed at us sleeping in till noon and beyond. Though it was just a saying, my dad was pretty much always awake before 8:00 even on the weekends and that taught me not to waste time, even though I did waste it most weekends.

My sisters, my mom, and I are all very emotional beings and my dad is not. There are good and bad things to both sides of those coins, but my dad taught me not to waste emotions by jumping to conclusions and crying about something before I knew all the facts. Of course I still jump to conclusions and cry over simple things, but I am doing much better at not wasting my time.

Though you may not realize it, I did learn a lot from you dad. I hope you and all Fathers have a fantastic Father's Day!