You ever made that mistake? You know, you got kids and got teenagers and I got
3 boys. I've made mistakes. But you know what? You don't have to make those
mistakes? How to be a great dad to these teenage boys? I'll lay it all out to you
so you don't have to make the mistakes.
Having kids and having teenagers, Wow! You know, how do we as dads, really be good at
this? Because I don't know if you've ever seen a training manual of how to be a
great dad. You know, to your teenage son but it's it's a you know, if it's out
there, where's the short version? Where's the easy version of what it takes to be
a great dad? Now, I've got three boys and raising my 3 boys, there's quite a
number of years in-between my boys. And so it gave me a chance to test and try
things and fail and find some successes. So what I did is I had to find a very
simple checklist for me so I could do a good job being a dad. And you know there
are those days you do great and there's those days you don't do great. But here's
my checklist that really helps me really do better than if I didn't have this
checklist. First off, give them attention. You know, really give them attention in
those short small time moments. It doesn't have to be a lot, doesn't have to
be a half day experience. In fact, any time I try to give my son a half days
worth of attention, it's too much. So, small moments of attention really show
them that you're doing great as a dad. Being interested in what it is that
they're doing. My 3 sons, my 3 boys have all been interested in
completely different things. And most of them, I don't know how to do. Like one of
my son's is really interested in mechanics and he likes to pull apart his
motorbike and put it together and modify it.
I have no mechanical skills at all. And so, but I'll go out there and sit in the
chair. You know, and sit there and watch him and just be in awe about what he's
doing. But to show interest is a great way to be a dad. The next one is really
time. You know, when you give them attention and you're showing your
interest, really look at the amount of time you really are spending with them.
If you can have 5 minutes of really good focus time compared to an hour of
kind of, you know paying attention, 5 minutes can be powerful. In fact, my 17
year old right now, we have 5 minutes of time to happen. A little bit in the
morning, a little bit in the afternoon, a little bit in the evening. But it's
really cool, we're super connected. Just with the short amount of time. Being a
great dad else requires forgiveness. My kids are going to make mistakes. I'm
going to make mistakes. And if I have high expectations that they're not going to make
mistakes, then I might be short on the forgiveness side. And being a dad, really
what one thing you're wanting to teach them is how to forgive. My son broke
something out in my garage recently and I walk out he's like, "Dad, I totally
busted this." And I was like, "Well, okay. Hey I... You know, I think we can fix this. You
know, I think we can take care of this." And he's like, "Dad, I'm so sorry." I was
like, "Yeah, I forgive you. I really do, I forgive you." And he was shocked. He goes,
"Dad, why are you so easy to forgive me?" One of the reasons why is because I hope
that he can be that forgiving. What I do, he's going to do. And so not only does it
help us have a great relationship but I hope to be a great example that
forgiveness helps maintain that great relationship even if something got
forgotten or broken or left or something bad happened. But forgiveness is a big
one. And if you're not good at that, it's time to go find a book and do some
studying about how and how forgiveness works. The last one is, I think when
you're being a great dad is when you are taking the opportunity to teach about
something. Anything at all but to teach how things work show them how the vacuum
works or the shopvac or the tools or the appliances in the kitchen or
relationships or you know getting along with people. But to not only just share
advice but share advice that has steps. You know, when you can teach and
there's certain steps like, "Did you know there's 3 steps to this or 2 steps
to this?" Then they realize wow you're a really smart dad because you can put
things into steps or into a process or a system. But kids love to learn from their
dad the steps. Because it's really cool then they see you as the smart one, the
expert. And that's how... If they can respect you, because of the smarts you
have, because of the way you compile that information and share with them, there
will be a higher level of respect. But for me as a dad, this has really helped
me to just check in. Am I giving them attention?
Am I being interested? I'm actually investing some time?
Am I expense... You know, expressing my forgiveness? And am I looking for that
opportunity to teach. And if I can touch on these, just each one of these
throughout the week, not every day. That's that's a lot. But if I can just check in
throughout the week, I know I'm on a great path. And I know I'll do better
than if I didn't do this. Because if you miss these and you don't check in with
these, you're going to find yourself drifting from your son. You're going to find
that distance start to happen. And then you'll wonder what happened? Why do they
not come to you? Why do they not talk to you? But if you're in that place right
now where they're just not talking to you and there's no relationship at all,
start with the first one. Give some attention to them. And just be interested
in what it is that they're doing and it's going to make a big difference. Now, if
you want to learn more and you know, like to be... You know, find out what else you
can learn hear it from us here at 3 key elements, go check us out and look
at what we have in the form of trainings and other YouTube videos that we have.
But subscribe to our channel here so that you don't miss any of the other the
great material that we have they were going to send out to you. So subscribe and
go check out our website because that's what we're here for.
Because your kids really do matter.
you