Work ethic
Joys of still hunting cat squirrels
Joys of river fishing for “eating size” channel catfish.
Avoidance of debt for no reason.

How to solve problems.

My Pops taught me being a man of your word, being honest, and being a very hard worker you will get far in life.

My Mom taught me that being a patient and listening before jumping will warrant you the best outcome. I still work on this trait.

Both my Grandpas taught me the outdoors and how to work hard on farms. They also taught me many of the Boy Scout / McGuyver skills that I know today.

My Grandma Korbel taught me my love for cooking and German/Czech foods.

Honest work with good work ethics. These are just two of the many more things in life he taught me. Had a good strong relationship with both my Dad and Mom!

Dad - your word is everything
Mom - you are loved be sure you love others and don’t worry about the details

Lord loves a workin’ man and don’t trust whitey

I was 3 years old when my Dad passed away. My Mom moved us in with my grandparents. Luckily my grandfather became my father figure. He taught me so much thatI couldn't put it all in one post. The best lessons were the ones that he never spoke a word about. He was a farmer and to this day probably the hardest worker I've ever seen. He got up every day and worked his butt off. Seeing that consistency and NEVER on e hearing g him make an excuse for anything that went wrong. He just fixed it.
He gave me my love of fishing too. My grandmother was probably the nicest, sweetest lady I've ever known. She taught me a love of family and what that truly means.
My Mom and I have always had a bit of a strained relationship. Nothing bad but there has always been a little distance between us. She's pent some years in her own head after my Dad died and kinda kept her distance. She always said I reminded her of him too much and it was harder for her to let him go etc. Nothing horrible just one of those things that families go through I guess.
I' have no complaints about my life though. It's not been a bad one. People have gone through far worse than I ever had. I don't hold any grudges about any of it. Would have loved for my kids and grandkids to have had the chance to know my Dad more than regret for me never really knowing him.

Like LoneStarSon, my father wasn't much of one. My mom & l took the brunt of abuse that came from alcoholism. Coming up back then the resources were not there to get away from it for a mother and 4 children. Grandparents were dirt poor & we were just a step above it. Grandfather (mom's dad) passed away when l was 6, otherwise he probably would have killed my father. My father did take me fishing, but that was another reason for him to drink. He did work though and provided a home. Mom worked too in a low wage job and she managed the household finances. She aspired to be more and despite only having a GED, she is very smart. She eventually worked herself into a position in the company she was with that had her traveling to Mexico, Guatemala & El Salvador. Her doing this was an inspiration to me when l had the opportunity to go to Russia for work and to AK afterward.

If anything was passed down from my father, it was the idea that l didn't want to be like him. I have never drank anything with alcohol.

Big respect for your Mom-

My parents taught me a lot that I wish I would have listened too. Main one I think he learned from my grandpa is if you can't pay for it in cash you can't afford it.

My dad taught me to hunt and fish. Other than that he showed me how not to be a dad. I learned how to cook and be self sufficient from my mom.

Respectfully to all, thank you for sharing I will refrain from the same, except saying mental abuse is lifelong.

Accountability for one’s own actions
Hard work ethic

Wow. I can't imagine some of the life that you guys grew up in. It's hearbreaking that so many of you had such bad family relationships. My dad was a high school dropout at 16 when all three of his older brothers went to WW2, and like most of the men in his family, became a brick layer. Hard working does not begin to describe it. I grew up in S. Oak Cliff. I didn't think of us as "poor" because we had the just about the same lifestyle as those around us. What we did have is a loving, Christian family. One older brother and twin younger sisters. Dad never met a stranger. When I was a kid it would embarrass me the way he would just walk up to strangers and start talking to them. Many times about the Lord, but most of the time just being friendly. As I got older it became one the things that I will always look back on and smile about. He loved to make people laugh. I got that trait from him. Mom was the one who kept us in line most of the time, but if she ever told us, "wait til your dad gets home"...uh oh. Dad didn't play when it came to doing what mom told us. None of this "I'm gonna count to three [censored]" or "time out". But when I got the punished, I dang sure knew I deserved it. I remember when I was about 8 and had done something stupid that I knew was wrong dad told me something that I'll never forget and have passed it down to a lot of folks. He sat me down on our back porch, looked me straight in the eyes, and said, "Son, there's gonna be a lot of times in your life when you're gonna have to make a decision on what's right and what's wrong. Maybe your friends want you to do something that you're not sure of whether to go along with them or not. He drew a little line in the dirt and said as he pointed to each side, "one side is right, and one side is wrong. There's no middle on this line. If you don't know if what you're about to do is right or wrong, just don't do it and you'll never end up in trouble." Simple words, but man did it save me from myself over and over.

^^^Very cool Randy!