The role of being a father is quite a difficult one to perform. Whether you’re the main provider, work a career alongside your partner, or are a stay at home parent, the set of lessons you teach your adolescent son is somewhat different from the lessons brought from the maternal side. A strong father figure is very important for a young child to develop with confidence.

Often presence is the best way to teach, because children learn through your presence and your willingness to be there. However, there are also a few methods to ensure that your child becomes the best person they can be through your tuition alone. We have compiled a small list of some of the best examples you can fit your child, and in the process help them cross that verge from late adolescence into adulthood with pride.

Pride In Dress

It’s important to know how to dress well. Of course, you might be more or less interested in fashion, but that doesn’t really affect this point. Taking care in our appearance means being able to groom effectively. Teaching your son to shave is the first point of pride. This shows a willingness to care and maintain the overall growth. Next is teaching how to iron, and to repair simply clothing maintenance tricks. The third responsibility is helping them scrub up well. This might mean helping them attend suit shopping duties and picking out a tie set together.

There’s a reason that the first thing military recruits learn is how to dress and maintain their appearance well. It’s because the act of doing so is a metaphor for self-respect and a willingness for personal responsibility. No matter the temperament of your child, everyone can benefit from learning to take care of their hygiene and appearance, and to take pride in it. This is how self-confidence develops.

Challenge

One of the biggest mistakes is to allow children the space to avoid doing anything difficult. This leaves them woefully unprepared for some of the difficulties of life, and in general will leave them wanting from an emotional perspective. Everyone faces challenge, but not everyone is able to grasp it fully. We’d recommend encouraging, helping them attend and showing an interest in an extracurricular hobby, no matter what it is. Allow them to pursue this with all they have. It might be learning guitar, it might be boxing, it might be dancing, or it might be painting. No matter what activity they spark an interest in, allow them to feel autonomous and willingness to grow. This way, potential is developed, and they feel more competent with what they have to offer the world.

Mistakes

Everyone makes mistakes. You have, and your son will. What matters is the ability to bounce back from mistakes. This might mean teaching them about lessons you have learned from your own failings, and helping them learn to recover solo when making their own. It means taking away the stigma of constant judging and instead letting a child be honest about their own flaws in action. This helps them develop a long-term sense of personal responsibility, and prevents them from deceiving themselves no matter what goes wrong.

Take care of these three things, and you’ll be an even better Dad than the great one you are right now.