Everyone will tell you about all the things they have learned from their dad. Whether it’s how to change a flat tire or how to irritate your mom, we learn a lot from our fathers. As I have grown up, my dad taught me stuff I never wanted to hear. I remember one day in probably fifth grade he was driving me to a summer camp and trying to explain to me what a mortgage was and how to avoid debt as an adult. I always laughed about the crazy things my dad would tell me, but as I have gotten older there is one lesson that has always stuck and applied more ways to my life than I could have imagined.
“Nothing in life is free” is something my dad told my sister and I all the time growing up. It normally was response to commercial selling something and offering some “great deal” of a second item for free or response to signs we would pass about three months free financing. With this statement my dad has taught me more about finances than any 19-year-old college student would care to know, he has also managed to teach me one of the most important things people have to learn in their lives.
My dad has always pushed me to my greatest potential. I was never the most studious throughout middle school and into high school, and I never understood why my dad kept getting so mad when I didn’t apply myself. As senior year rolled around and I didn’t get into my top choice college, what he always said popped into my head:, “Nothing in Life is Free”. Now that I have gone to college, what my dad always said still sticks with me. I didn’t realize it then, but my dad helped me develop my work ethic. Without which I would never have developed the amazing goals and dreams I have at this point in my life.
While my dad has never been a man of many words, a lot of what he has said has shaped the person I have become. So listen to what your dad has to say. Yes, most of the time it will probably be a sarcastic dad joke he finds way funnier than you ever will, but sometimes he will provide you with the words or lessons you should live your life by.
