by Dave Williams
Today I have some words of advice for my sons and theirs. We dads are very good at this. Even if the advice is sometimes nonsense we never stop spewing warnings, admonitions, analogies, metaphors and stories that begin with, “When I was your age…”
My own dad was a master of the art. He’s been gone for several years now but every day of my life things happen that remind me of something he said or did largely created the better parts of the man I am today. I still seek his advice and he still delivers.
Whenever I am faced with a perplexing decision I only have to ask myself, “What would Dad tell you?” The answer comes to me in a flash.
It works very well the other way around, too. Sometimes I have a dilemma that just can’t be sorted out by weighing the pros and cons of alternative actions or decisions. If I simply ask myself, “What would you tell Jeremy or Nathan to do?” I get my answer immediately with clarity and confidence.
These wise tricks of fatherhood are excellent tools and I highly recommend them. They almost always work.
Almost.
So, the first piece of advice I must give my sons is: have faith in your wisdom but embrace your honest ignorance. There’s no shame in it.
Repeat after me now the three little words that are the most powerful item in a father’s bag of tricks:
“I don’t know.”
Say it again, fearlessly, as if you mean it this time.
“I don’t know.”
The more you say it the easier it becomes but you also must understand that these words should never be used except in sincerity. Your eternal responsibility to your children requires that you make every effort to help them find their way through life’s labyrinth. You, of course, are still finding your own way through the maze and sometimes they will encounter an intersection you’ve not seen. So, again with feeling, please:
“I don’t know.”
It’s getting kind of warm and charming, isn’t it? Maybe later we can address the other three words you need in your toolkit which require much greater skill and caution:
“Ask your mother.”
Post Script: After she read this my wife, the lovely and feisty CarolAnn Conley-Williams said, “You need to add the other three words that are the most important of all: ‘I love you.'” I replied, “That’s obvious.” She said, “No, it’s not. Many fathers can’t or won’t say it.”
She’s right, of course. I didn’t think of it because we Williams dads have no problem with it at all. You can read her comment below.
I love this. You’ve pretty much covered all the bases, especially at the very end.
I also think 3 words I love you should be added to that list. It was 30 years before I heard these words from my dad. And only after my brother made him say it. I always knew he loved me but hearing it was very important to me after my mother died.