My Father was also a man of few words when it came to his 3 sons, he taught by the way he carried himself and spoke. He was a highly respected man, wherever we went out with him, people would always tell us that...yet, he was just our Dad. We NEVER f*cked with him...just the thought sent shivers up our spines. He never laid a hand on any of us, even once, and I could count on one hand the number of times he swore in front of us...and have fingers left over.
Four things he would say...
1) I'll never yell at you, when I call your name...look at my eyes.
2) I'll never be your friend, I'm your Father. You have plenty of friends already.
3) Don't EVER ask me "why".
And when we each had our first child...
4) Better parenting through small amounts of fear...the respect will come later.
ETA: I almost forgot. When we did something dumb or stupid, he'd he'd just tap his index finger to his temple and say "gabbadost" (hardhead).
Now my Mother had a saying that usually covered every bit of trouble we got into when we were young and I have repeated it to my kids ad nauseam...
"Liars think everyone lies, thieves think everyone steals, and cheaters think everyone cheats."
Old school, old country all the way in our house growing up.
