Friday, June 18, 2010

Four for Fridays

Hello everyone! It's finally Friday after a long week. Seeing Father's Day is the weekend, this week's questions are about fathers.

1) Do you celebrate Father's Day?

2) How do you celebrate Father's Day?

3) Describe what is your father like.

4) What you think it takes to be a good father?

Enjoy your weekend!

13 comments:

kkdither said...

1. Not really
2. Much like Mother's Day. Kids will visit if they can or call. There might be small gifts.
3. Wow. This made me think. My dad has been gone 18 years. Hard for me to believe. My dad worked second shift, so we didn't see him much. He was the typical 50's dad, the true disciplinarian. We knew the point in the sand and never dared to cross it. He mellowed out a lot near the end. I got to know him a lot better as I wound up being his driver when he became too ill to do things for himself.
4. That is hard to say. I know my dad worked every day and provided for us. I know he did this even though he didn't like it. I think you love your parents no matter what they do or don't do. I put flowers on both parents graves yesterday. I really miss them.

Anonymous said...

1) No
2) Sleep in
3) Dead
4) A father that's involved with their kids. The time spent with kids when the are young is time not spent with them in front of a judge when they're older.

Why Not? said...

1) Do you celebrate Father's Day?
Kinda sorta

2) How do you celebrate Father's Day?
breakfast in bed, family time the rest of the day maybe a cake.

3) Describe what is your father like.
hardcore conservative, listens to Rush any time he can and others like him.. Now retired (kinda forced into retirement after losing his job twice in the last five years that he just kinda gave up looking for a new one). A very kind man (even if he had quite the temper) him and I always had a very close relationship even though we disagree on most things.

4) What you think it takes to be a good father?
discipline, goofy play time, open to talk to.. that's what I like about my dad

Beejay said...

My dad has been gone for about 37 years. I don't celebrate the day.

My Dad was a good guy in the end. He had some issues in my early childhood, but I don't remember him being anything by a good Dad to me. He had a great sense of humor. My older brothers have different memories in that respect.

Patience, time for your kids and a sense of humor! How else could any parent get through!

Toad said...

1. Not really. If I get a call from my two daughters It's a GREAT day.

2. Just another day.

3. He is gone (1971) but he was really a neat guy. Smart as a whip. He could fix anything. Amazing man. Gentle, Kind, couldn't name a person that didn't like him. I think he was the ONLY person In the family that actually understood me. I miss him badly.

4. Understanding. I lack that attribute. I am very judgemental of others, and most people have done NOTHING to deserve such abuse. A female co-worker once called me a OGRE. I had no idea what that meant until I looked It up, and had to agree completely. I remind her of It every time I talk to her. I think I am thankful she let me know.

hale-bopp said...

Well, not a father here. Will call mine (as I do every Sunday) but mentioning it seems to annoy him. We both have a bit of a disdain for Hallmark Holidays.

Reserved, independent, smart as a whip and could assemble any Heath Kit every created (lots of home built electronics around the house when I was a kid) and he could even open up the old television and sometimes even replaced the old vacuum tubes himself.

As some of you know, he is gay and was supposedly "cured" by electric shock therapy in the '60s. Did more to make him miserable for a few decades than to cure him (but he's doing much better now!)

One thing he didn't do (which I appreciate) is he didn't talk down to me and never offered false praise. I had to increase my vocabulary quickly to talk with him and to this day, I hate it when people give me what I feel is undeserved praise (and I don't do this to others which can cause problems at times...even most adults expect it now).

Good father: find what your kids like, encourage them to get good at it. Fortunately, I liked astronomy and science which gave him a good excuse to buy toys we both liked! Also did a lot of magic together and even performed in shows together. He even came to as many of my sports events as he could even though I know he hated every minute of it.

One thing he didn't do (which I appreciate) is he didn't talk down to me and never offered false praise.

Toad said...

Hale: If a person deserves praise, why would you consider It a problem? I don't know you, but do know your good at the things you do. Praise should make you feel like you have a usefull purpose. I worked for a company that NEVER said "good job", "bad job", or anything other than "don't worry about It" or "we don't need you anymore" Just once I would have liked to hear "Good Job Mike" (My Opinion) I just think people need to know their worth a shit once and awhile. By the way Hale. Your a good shit.

hale-bopp said...

I may have made a typo somewhere, Toad. It's undeserved praise (or even blowing a small accomplishment up into a major one) that is the problem. If someone does something truly great I have no problem them being told so in no uncertain terms!

OrbsCorbs said...

1) Don't celebrate it anymore. Dad's been dead since 1977.

2) When dad was alive, I think mom got him gifts on Father's Day in the early years. I can't recall buying him any gifts, though. I think I just said, "Happy Father's Day."

3) Very brave to have left his homeland with my mother and migrated here. He was very smart and a machinist. I think I got my knack for fixing (and over-torquing) things from him. (First time I changed the oil on his car, I stripped out the drain hole by over-tightening the plug.)

4) I'm not a father, so I don't know what it takes. I like what logjam said about being with your kids as much as possible when they're young, but some guys have to work a lot of hours, or otherwise have problems. I also agree with kk that most people love their parents no matter what. It's hard-wired into us.

Also, I just wanted to say that I didn't know that about your father, hale, and I'm sorry he underwent such treatment. I have a schizophrenic friend and she still has to undergo electroshock on occasion. She's told me about it and it sounds awful.

Also, when I managed an auto repair shop, I learned the value of praising my technicians and other employees. Each guy had a talent that I relied on him for, so I always praised his work when he shined in his area of expertise.

MinnesotaChick said...

1) Do you celebrate Father's Day?

My Dad's been dead for many years, so not with him

2) How do you celebrate Father's Day?

Spend it with Father In Law

3) Describe what is your father like.

umm ..... when he was alive we didn't get along


4) What you think it takes to be a good father?

Be supportive

drewzepmeister said...

1) Yes,kinda...

2) I'll treat myself to a steak dinner or cook one on the grill-then I'll call my dad.

3) Quiet and reserved-a strong disciplinarian, yet he was goofy at times. When I was younger we butted heads often. Of course, I was a wild and rebellious teenager without a clue back then. I look back at that, yeah, my dad was right. Should have listened...

4) I'm a dad now. I made a vow to do whatever it takes to be a good father. Even after my divorce. Yeah, I could have easily walked away from the responsibilities of parenthood, but I didn't. I can't.... It angers me to see so many deadbeat dads out there. They just don't know the joys of being a parent.

Lizardmom said...

I struggled with answering this one but this is a safe place where honesty is ok so bear with me :)

1. Never did until I got married then honored my father in law who quickly became an incredible strong father figure. Also celebrate my hubby for being dad to the girls, and a very good one at that :)

2. With my father in law (he's been gone 5 years now), we used to find some munchie he liked, and just spend a few hours with him on the day. With my hubby, either taking him out for lunch or making something special (the latter of which will be done tomorrow - fajitas!)

3. This is the question that almost kept me from answering. To be completely honest, it could only be described as one full of hate/prejudice/etc combined with alcoholism and alot of violence. I thank God every day for the father in law that I got when I got married. He showed me what it took to be a good dad, even tho he wasn't that warm and fuzzy with his kids when they were little. He was always loyal, a great provider and always had my mother in laws back if the kids crossed the line.
He was a bit gruffer version of my hubby, who himself has even mellowed with age, can only keep getting better :)

4. It doesn't take perfection, but some degree of selflessness, and the way Logjam put it was better than I could, thanks LJ!!

Happy Fathers day to all the JTI dads out there!! Hope your dad is special :)

OrbsCorbs said...

*Hugs Lizardmom*

You are indeed blessed to have your husband and to have known your father-in-law.

Happy Father's Day!