This OP is for those of us who, for whatever reason, had to father ourselves or

[Bonobo]

teach ourselves to be good fathers or good men.

That is all.

[Katashi_itto]

1. K&R

Yeah It was always just me.
I relied on the military to keep me off the street.

[lumberjack_jeff]

2. I am very fortunate in that regard.

Dad is the whole reason that I'm okay.

The absence of a dad is a disadvantage that many men don't recover from. I have very little respect for people who cause it.

[TheFarS1de]

3. Father of 4 daughters reporting in .

When I look at my kids now I realise what a fool my Father was to miss out on the best part of life , being a dad . It's far from easy but it is the most rewarding thing I have done in my entire life .

[lumberjack_jeff]

4. There are fifty million wrong ways to raise kids.

It's useful to cut our parents (and ourselves) some slack.

When my kids were little I had very clear ideas about what I wanted them to be. It took a long time to really understand that the only important thing was for them to be happy adults - and that everything else was tactics.

[Katashi_itto]

5. K&R

[NickB79]

6. My dad taught me everything I know about being a good man

I just do the exact opposite of what he did, and I'm golden.

[Blue_Adept]

7. It's frightening how much that works sometimes

There were good things here and there, but the bulk of my relationship was the same for me, particularly in parenting my own kids.

He could never understand why my kids and I went on vacations together since he never took my mother and I on any when I was a kid. Just couldn't grasp that concept.

[DavidDvorkin]

8. I was about to post the same thing

I applied that lesson to being a husband and father.