How to be a good dad.

LeeC · Heavyweight Member Joined: 25 Feb 2003 Posts: 5730

Modesty does not come with this job. My kids ARE great. That's a fact..

Odd thing is how age creeps up on a man though. I'm 50, barely. That's the big five O. Don't feel it all. Still wondering if I'll ever know what the word "Grown-up" means...

Now from my perspective the Rolling Stones are an OLD group. When they were first selling songs it was my big sister who bought all their albums. By the time the early seventies hit they were (in my mind) gone passe. Over the hill. And that was thirty five years ago.

Not so for my sixteen year old son however. By anyone's description who've met my son he is considered very polite, inteligent, engaging and kind. So what is HIS favorite rock group?

A geriatric British band with some cats named Mick, Keith, Charlie and whatnot. Absolutely loves Keith Richard.

Go figure...

Now my son is the finest young man I ever met. Can do no wrong. A trumpet player even. True he's not as good as me on the horn but that's true of most all of you reading today too.

Modesty does not go with this instrument either.

So what do you get for a kid who gets the highest grades in school, performs in the jazz band, plays sports seriously and turned out far better than his dad?

Well you have to be very sly with your delivery plans for certain gifts. What i did was pick my son up after his rowing workout and mention to him that he left his glasses in the glove compartment of the car. He looks at me like I'm crazy but still opens the glove box.

The first thing showing inside are three stiff pieces of white paper saying:

"ROLLING STONES, SBC PARK SECTION 315 11/15/05"

"You're the greatest in the world Dad".

Yes, I know.

WxJeff · Posted: Sun Nov 06, 2005 11:19 am Post subject:

Nicely done. I am in a similar place.

I work very hard to try and keep up with my rock 'n' roll drummer son's musical tastes (I fail badly in the attempt.) But we were listening to Cold Play the other day in his room and talking about how tight the music was and how nicely done were the chord progressions, vocals, etc.

I asked, "Wouldn't you like to go hear them live sometime?" He said (rather patronizingly,) "Dad, there's no way to get tickets. Hey -- they're Cold Play!"

I'd love to be able to implement my version of your story!

plp · Posted: Sun Nov 06, 2005 12:54 pm Post subject:

He shoots, he scores! Chalk one up for the geezers.....

I know what you mean, and damn if I can figure out what I've done, if anything, to make my 3 turn out as well as they have. I give their Mom all the credit, as she has been there every waking minute for them. I just make sure the bills are paide, and try to spend some time with them the 2 days out of every month I'm home.

'Stones fan, eh? Mine think Kansas and Rush are the big deal, but listen to 'Some Girls' (the only Stones I own) with some degree of regularity.

Great move on your part, Lee.

Tristan the man 2000 · Posted: Sun Nov 06, 2005 1:04 pm Post subject:

Wow, some real chicken soup for the soul here.

Oh, not to bring anyone down, but that first story (with the glove box) was already done on the Simpsons. (go figure)
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Kickin' brass and takin' names.

vivace · Posted: Sun Nov 06, 2005 10:37 pm Post subject:

why can't you be my dad.
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"All music is folk music. I ain't never heard no horse sing no song." - Louis Armstrong

trombapaul2 · Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2005 7:51 am Post subject:

Outstanding!!! You've made all of us "soon-to-be" old guys proud of you!

Paul

Bill · Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2005 9:16 am Post subject:

Lee,

Nice job. I'm 49 1/2 and have a 17 year old son (in addition to a 16 year old daughter, an 11 year old and a fiver).

Michael has always been a straight A kid, plays in the band, marches etc. I made a deal with him that if he neither smoked nor drank and had a 3.5 or better GPA he would get a car on his 17th birthday. I had to ante up but was worth it...no, not just worth it - it was great to reward someone for good behavior.

He's 90% the product of my wife's nurturing and 10% my attention when I've been able to give it to him. Now we're doing the college search circuit and spending a good amount of meaningful time together pursuing something that will be his 2nd or 3rd biggest decision of his life.

Congratulations to your family.

BTW Michael's heroes are BB King, Cheap Trick, Elvin Bishop, Chicago and Led Zeppelin.

Go figure!

Bill Mirrielees
Madison, Alabama
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Bill Mirrielees
Wilmington NC

Wilmington Big Band
Artistry In Jazz Big Band
Snake Malone and the Black Cat Bone Blues Band

razeontherock · Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2005 12:19 am Post subject:

This "retro" thing is great, ain't it? We gotta give 'em some culture and yes I mean jazz trumpet. Turn your rock n' roll drummer son on to Petra - real rock, uplifting lyrics w/ values even.

At 8 my youngest son wants to be a lawyer, then a Judge, then a lawyer hired as a consultant by other lawyers for his opinion. When he found out his big brother's musical abilities could earn money and even a scholarship you could see the wheels turning so fast there was smoke coming out his ears! Now he wants piano lessons [/brag]

Ray
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"And this is life: that you know the Son, and the One who sent Him." The rest is just details

AverageJoe · Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2005 12:34 am Post subject:

Lee --

Yeah, man...Yeah!

Paul
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"Every time I hear you play, you sound better than the next..."

AverageJoe · Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2005 12:41 am Post subject:

razeontherock · Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2005 1:28 am Post subject:

Greg did some good stuff with 'em too, but I bet the kid likes John Schlitt better! Even though "all over me" IS hard to beat for tasty. Last I heard from 'em was Jekyll and Hyde, by far the hardest metal they've ever done. It got stolen ... it was a solo project done by Uncle Bob and John, didn't know they toured since. Who'd they have?