Lessons from my Dad

All of us have inherited both good and bad traits from our parents. In my case I was fortunate to be adopted by my birth uncle at a very early age of two years old.  Thus I grew up with an extended family of two mothers and a father, during these formative years I picked up notions and some of these have stuck.  In a similar fashion I can see some of these in the DNA of my own kids -- well not really DNA but more of nurture.   

1. Kindness
2. Respect for education
3. Pride (and love) for his family
4. Passionate about adventure - love of travel and food
5. Always see the positive in everything

Kindness - Dad was very generous. He was generous with his time with the community as President of the Red Cross,  Darwin Chinese Chung Wah Society and a active member of Rotary.  We always had parties at our home and if there was a Navy ship or submarine in town, then they were all invited for a dinner and a night of entertainment.  My Dad had a soft heart and I remember a time we were in Hong Kong on holidays and he saw a dirty & homeless man on the street - he crossed the road and gave that man money, despite the protests of my mum to be careful.

Respect for education - my father had been sent to college in Western Australia. David had studied accountancy and served as an electrician in the Australian Air Force.  However he was a really poor book-keeper and could barely change a light bulb.  David did really value education and he taught me how important this is.

Pride (and love) for his family - no doubt all Dads love their kids.  My Dad was however at the best of times a little embarrassing and he would always be talking about how great his children or grandchildren were to others (as if we could not hear). We would often cringe and shirk away, so now I am very conscious when I hear myself do the same thing !

Passionate about adventure - David always loved to travel and dine out. The choices that were available in Darwin weren't great, but we would often try new places in town. I remember this even being roadside diners which had just opened.   I was instilled at a early age the joys of exploring and trying new tastes -- to this end my own kids have this bug.

Always see the positive - My Dad was obsessed with buying Lottery Tickets.  I'm not sure that he ever won anything of significance, but he had boxes of Sydney Opera House Tickets,  House \ Car packages in the Gold Coast etc   He always was convinced he would win big and then he had a script how he would spend this, give some to me etc.   The funny thing is that despite this obsession with lotteries that he did not 'gamble'


These are lessons that I learnt from my Dad - some of these I have managed to pass onto my own kids.