{"id":2084,"date":"2018-10-19T10:39:43","date_gmt":"2018-10-19T15:39:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/dw_blog\/?p=2084"},"modified":"2018-10-20T08:27:21","modified_gmt":"2018-10-20T13:27:21","slug":"a-fathers-advice-part-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/dw_blog\/a-fathers-advice-part-one\/","title":{"rendered":"A father’s advice: part one"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Dad and me, c. 1967<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

by Dave Williams<\/strong><\/p>\n

Today I have some words of advice for my sons and theirs.\u00a0We 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, \u201cWhen I was your age\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

My own dad was a master of the art. He\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

Whenever I am faced with a perplexing decision I only have to ask myself, \u201cWhat would Dad tell you?\u201d The answer comes to me in a flash.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Jeremy and me camping c. 1986<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It works very well the other way around, too. Sometimes I have a dilemma that just can\u2019t be sorted out by weighing the pros and cons of alternative actions or decisions. If I simply ask myself, \u201cWhat would you tell Jeremy or Nathan to do?\u201d I get my answer immediately with clarity and confidence.<\/p>\n

These wise tricks of fatherhood are excellent tools and I highly recommend them. They almost always work.<\/p>\n

Almost.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Repeat after me now the three little words that are the most powerful item in a father\u2019s bag of tricks:<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n

Say it again, fearlessly, as if you mean it this time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u2019s labyrinth. You, of course, are still finding your own way through the maze and sometimes they will encounter an intersection you\u2019ve not seen. So, again with feeling, please:<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s getting kind of warm and charming, isn\u2019t it? Maybe later we can address the other three words you need in your toolkit which require much greater skill and caution:<\/p>\n

\u201cAsk your mother.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.”<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Dave Williams Today I have some words of advice for my sons and theirs.\u00a0We 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, \u201cWhen I was your age\u2026\u201d My own dad was a master of the art. … Continue reading “A father’s advice: part one”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[434,398,435,1,308],"tags":[436],"class_list":["post-2084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dads","category-family","category-fathers","category-uncategorized","category-wisdom","tag-fathers-and-sons"],"yoast_head":"\nA father's advice: part one : The Aging of Aquarius<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/dw_blog\/a-fathers-advice-part-one\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A father's advice: part one : The Aging of Aquarius\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"by Dave Williams Today I have some words of advice for my sons and theirs.\u00a0We 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, \u201cWhen I was your age\u2026\u201d My own dad was a master of the art. … Continue reading "A father’s advice: part one"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/dw_blog\/a-fathers-advice-part-one\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Aging of Aquarius\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Theagingofaquariuscom-146601329349637\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/DWRadio\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-10-19T15:39:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-10-20T13:27:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/dw_blog\/wp-contentuploads\/2018\/10\/Dad-Me-c_edited-1-300x263.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dave Williams\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@theagingofaqua1\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@theagingofaqua1\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dave Williams\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theagingofaquarius.com\\\/dw_blog\\\/a-fathers-advice-part-one\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theagingofaquarius.com\\\/dw_blog\\\/a-fathers-advice-part-one\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Dave Williams\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theagingofaquarius.com\\\/dw_blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/11781c3944c84e2fdb841152c8e1d5e1\"},\"headline\":\"A father’s advice: part one\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-10-19T15:39:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-10-20T13:27:21+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theagingofaquarius.com\\\/dw_blog\\\/a-fathers-advice-part-one\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":492,\"commentCount\":2,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theagingofaquarius.com\\\/dw_blog\\\/a-fathers-advice-part-one\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/theagingofaquarius.com\\\/dw_blog\\\/wp-contentuploads\\\/2018\\\/10\\\/Dad-Me-c_edited-1-300x263.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"fathers and sons\"],\"articleSection\":{\"0\":\"dads\",\"1\":\"family\",\"2\":\"fathers\",\"4\":\"wisdom\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/theagingofaquarius.com\\\/dw_blog\\\/a-fathers-advice-part-one\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theagingofaquarius.com\\\/dw_blog\\\/a-fathers-advice-part-one\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theagingofaquarius.com\\\/dw_blog\\\/a-fathers-advice-part-one\\\/\",\"name\":\"A father's advice: part one : The Aging of Aquarius\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theagingofaquarius.com\\\/dw_blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theagingofaquarius.com\\\/dw_blog\\\/a-fathers-advice-part-one\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theagingofaquarius.com\\\/dw_blog\\\/a-fathers-advice-part-one\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/theagingofaquarius.com\\\/dw_blog\\\/wp-contentuploads\\\/2018\\\/10\\\/Dad-Me-c_edited-1-300x263.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-10-19T15:39:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-10-20T13:27:21+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theagingofaquarius.com\\\/dw_blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/11781c3944c84e2fdb841152c8e1d5e1\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theagingofaquarius.com\\\/dw_blog\\\/a-fathers-advice-part-one\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/theagingofaquarius.com\\\/dw_blog\\\/a-fathers-advice-part-one\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theagingofaquarius.com\\\/dw_blog\\\/a-fathers-advice-part-one\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/theagingofaquarius.com\\\/dw_blog\\\/wp-contentuploads\\\/2018\\\/10\\\/Dad-Me-c_edited-1-300x263.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/theagingofaquarius.com\\\/dw_blog\\\/wp-contentuploads\\\/2018\\\/10\\\/Dad-Me-c_edited-1-300x263.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theagingofaquarius.com\\\/dw_blog\\\/a-fathers-advice-part-one\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theagingofaquarius.com\\\/dw_blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A father’s advice: part one\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theagingofaquarius.com\\\/dw_blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theagingofaquarius.com\\\/dw_blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Aging of Aquarius\",\"description\":\""What a long, strange trip it's been!"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theagingofaquarius.com\\\/dw_blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theagingofaquarius.com\\\/dw_blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/11781c3944c84e2fdb841152c8e1d5e1\",\"name\":\"Dave Williams\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/54e0eb3531bd2d76fe8033472241adc21c6741b89c3f49b06ebe0ec004365691?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/54e0eb3531bd2d76fe8033472241adc21c6741b89c3f49b06ebe0ec004365691?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/54e0eb3531bd2d76fe8033472241adc21c6741b89c3f49b06ebe0ec004365691?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dave Williams\"},\"description\":\"Dave Williams is a radio news\\\/talk personality originally from Sacramento, now living in Dallas, Texas, with his wife, Carolann. They have two sons and grandsons living in L.A.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/theagingofaquarius.com\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/DWRadio\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/in\\\/davewilliamsradio\\\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theagingofaquarius.com\\\/dw_blog\\\/author\\\/br-2\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A father's advice: part one : The Aging of Aquarius","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/dw_blog\/a-fathers-advice-part-one\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A father's advice: part one : The Aging of Aquarius","og_description":"by Dave Williams Today I have some words of advice for my sons and theirs.\u00a0We 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, \u201cWhen I was your age\u2026\u201d My own dad was a master of the art. … Continue reading \"A father’s advice: part one\"","og_url":"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/dw_blog\/a-fathers-advice-part-one\/","og_site_name":"The Aging of Aquarius","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Theagingofaquariuscom-146601329349637\/","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/DWRadio","article_published_time":"2018-10-19T15:39:43+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-10-20T13:27:21+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/dw_blog\/wp-contentuploads\/2018\/10\/Dad-Me-c_edited-1-300x263.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Dave Williams","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@theagingofaqua1","twitter_site":"@theagingofaqua1","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dave Williams","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/dw_blog\/a-fathers-advice-part-one\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/dw_blog\/a-fathers-advice-part-one\/"},"author":{"name":"Dave Williams","@id":"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/dw_blog\/#\/schema\/person\/11781c3944c84e2fdb841152c8e1d5e1"},"headline":"A father’s advice: part one","datePublished":"2018-10-19T15:39:43+00:00","dateModified":"2018-10-20T13:27:21+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/dw_blog\/a-fathers-advice-part-one\/"},"wordCount":492,"commentCount":2,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/dw_blog\/a-fathers-advice-part-one\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/dw_blog\/wp-contentuploads\/2018\/10\/Dad-Me-c_edited-1-300x263.jpg","keywords":["fathers and sons"],"articleSection":{"0":"dads","1":"family","2":"fathers","4":"wisdom"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/dw_blog\/a-fathers-advice-part-one\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/dw_blog\/a-fathers-advice-part-one\/","url":"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/dw_blog\/a-fathers-advice-part-one\/","name":"A father's advice: part one : The Aging of Aquarius","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/dw_blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/dw_blog\/a-fathers-advice-part-one\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/dw_blog\/a-fathers-advice-part-one\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/dw_blog\/wp-contentuploads\/2018\/10\/Dad-Me-c_edited-1-300x263.jpg","datePublished":"2018-10-19T15:39:43+00:00","dateModified":"2018-10-20T13:27:21+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/dw_blog\/#\/schema\/person\/11781c3944c84e2fdb841152c8e1d5e1"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/dw_blog\/a-fathers-advice-part-one\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/dw_blog\/a-fathers-advice-part-one\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/dw_blog\/a-fathers-advice-part-one\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/dw_blog\/wp-contentuploads\/2018\/10\/Dad-Me-c_edited-1-300x263.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/dw_blog\/wp-contentuploads\/2018\/10\/Dad-Me-c_edited-1-300x263.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/dw_blog\/a-fathers-advice-part-one\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/dw_blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A father’s advice: part one"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/dw_blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/dw_blog\/","name":"The Aging of Aquarius","description":""What a long, strange trip it's been!"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/dw_blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/dw_blog\/#\/schema\/person\/11781c3944c84e2fdb841152c8e1d5e1","name":"Dave Williams","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/54e0eb3531bd2d76fe8033472241adc21c6741b89c3f49b06ebe0ec004365691?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/54e0eb3531bd2d76fe8033472241adc21c6741b89c3f49b06ebe0ec004365691?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/54e0eb3531bd2d76fe8033472241adc21c6741b89c3f49b06ebe0ec004365691?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dave Williams"},"description":"Dave Williams is a radio news\/talk personality originally from Sacramento, now living in Dallas, Texas, with his wife, Carolann. They have two sons and grandsons living in L.A.","sameAs":["https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/DWRadio","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/davewilliamsradio\/"],"url":"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/dw_blog\/author\/br-2\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8qnoI-xC","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/dw_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/dw_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/dw_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/dw_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/dw_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2084"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/dw_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2084\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2102,"href":"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/dw_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2084\/revisions\/2102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/dw_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/dw_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/dw_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}