Doug Giles: The Ten Commandments for My Daughter’s Potential Boyfriends

Townhall ^ | 7/1/07 | Doug Giles

[Ping-Pong]

To this day I really do not trust or want to be around,a guy who won’t or can’t do those things.

My son-in-law recently told me that they were at a party and the daughter of one of his friends told her dad she was going out with the young man that had been in the room for a time. Her dad sent the boy packing and explained to her that since the young man had arrived not once did he smile or offer to shake hands with any of the men there.

On the other hand, at a get-together my nephew, who we hadn't seen in quite a while, walked up to us "old folks" and with a smile, looked us in the eye and shook our hands (I got a hug). All the men were smiling back. He made an impression. That was the event that brought about my instructing my grandchildren.

I hope they will remember it was me that told them this as you remember it was your Dad.

[cubswinby100]

I like it.

It’s no coincidence that the man who treated my parents with respect and deference the most was the man I married and have 3 kids with.

My Dad would have accepted anyone as my husband as long as he was good to me and was respectful to our family. I could have brought home a [erson of a different race, religion, a democrat, a liberal, but as long as he was good to me that’s what mattered most. Okay maybe if he was a Packers or Cardinals fan there would have been problems.

It of course also helps that my husband is related to the Butkus family.

[cubswinby100]

And I bet you and your wife have a good relationship with her dad.

I looked at how my boyfriends treated my family and considered it when deciding to go further.

[cubswinby100]

There are tattoos and there are tattoos.

[nmh]

“Amen to that. He needs some help editing as he plainly does not see just how crude and vulgar he is.”

I wouldn’t want my daughter paying homage to a hypocrite!

Do as I say, not as I do - no thanks. He’d be turned away !

[napscoordinator]

True. lol. I am just glad I have three sons. After this thread, I am seriously thank full.

[GOP_Raider]

Giles makes good commentary, but am I alone here in thinking that his writing style is very condescending? I finish reading a Giles piece and find myself saying “God, what a jackass”.

[Incorrigible]

Well, I just cut and paste that post (It’s all over the internet) and it is intended to be humor...

None-the-less, as the father of a 10 year old girl I will answer your question this way: When my daughter is studying at Annapolis, I expect her to bring home an engineer!

[Wings-n-Wind]

I find the coarseness rather off-putting, but sometimes he’s funny.

I tihnk he's simply putting things into the language and nuances this fictitious young man and all of his friends would understand...

Their lingo... not ours...

Justa thought...

I am a Dad with daughters... and I think Ol' Doug is spot on...

JMHO

[California Patriot]

Judging by his own comments about his background, Giles (or his fictional persona) seems to have been one of the young men he’s griping about. People with that kind of background never completely outgrow it. In any case, Giles is clearly bad news. If he were single, and I had a middle-aged single or divorced daughter, I wouldn’t want her going out with him!

Another thing that’s wrong with the column is that he demands enormous amounts of respect from kids whom he’s speaking to as if they’re worms. It’s inconsistent — demanding respect without giving it. Also, Giles is talking about very important things and less important things as if they’re all equally important. You don’t get any results that way.

[California Patriot]

It’s not just condescending, though that’s certainly part of it. It suggests a violent streak.

[Wings-n-Wind]

Thanks for re-posting these.... has lost the source..

[Wings-n-Wind]

Giles demands “maturity” of young men, but he sounds a lot like the punks he’s so worried about.

Like the blue-zoo rally-cry??
Young once... Immature always

[fontman]

TEN RULES FOR DATING A MARINE’S DAUGHTER

Rule One:

If you pull into my driveway and honk you'd better be delivering a package, because you're sure not picking anything up.

Rule Two:

You do not touch my daughter in front of me. You may glance at her, so long as you do not peer at anything below her neck. If you cannot keep your eyes or hands off of my daughter's body, I will remove them.

Rule Three:

I am aware that it is considered fashionable for boys of your age to wear their trousers so loosely that they appear to be falling off their hips. Please don't take this as an insult, but you and all of your friends are complete idiots. Still, I want to be fair and open- minded about this issue, so I propose this compromise: You may come to the door with your underwear showing and your pants ten sizes too big, and I will not object. However, In order to ensure that your clothes do not, in fact, come off during the course of your date with my daughter, I will take my electric nail gun and fasten your trousers securely in place to your waist.

Rule Four:

I'm sure you've been told that in today's world, sex without utilizing a "barrier method" of some kind can kill you. Let me elaborate, when it comes to sex, I am the barrier, and I will kill you.

Rule Five:

In order for us to get to know each other, we should talk about sports, politics, and other issues of the day. Please do not do this. The only information I require from you is an indication of when you expect to have my daughter safely back at my house, and the only word I need from you on this subject is "early."

Rule Six:

I have no doubt you are a popular fellow, with many opportunities to date other girls. This is fine with me as long as it is okay with my daughter. Otherwise, once you have gone out with my little girl, you will continue to date no one but her until she is finished with you. If you make her cry, I will make you cry.

Rule Seven:

As you stand in my front hallway, waiting for my daughter to appear, and more than an hour goes by, do not sigh and fidget. If you want to be on time for the movie, you should not be dating. My daughter is putting on her makeup, a process that can take longer than painting the Golden Gate Bridge. Instead of just standing there, why don't you do something useful, like changing the oil in my car?

Rule Eight:

The following places are not appropriate for a date with my daughter: Places where there are beds, sofas, or anything softer than a wooden stool. Places where there are no parents, policemen, or nuns within eyesight. Places where there is darkness. Places where there is dancing, holding hands, or happiness. Places where the ambient temperature is warm enough to induce my daughter to wear shorts, tank tops, midriff T-shirts, or anything other than overalls, a sweater, and a goose down parka zipped up to her throat. Movies with a strong romantic or sexual theme are to be avoided; movies which features chain saws are okay. Hockey games are okay. Old folks homes are better.

Rule Nine:

Do not lie to me. I may appear to be a potbellied, balding, middle-aged, dimwitted has-been. But on issues relating to my daughter, I am the all-knowing, merciless god of your universe. If I ask you where you are going and with whom, you have one chance to tell me the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. I have a shotgun, a shovel, and five acres behind the house. Do not trifle with me.

Rule Ten:

Be afraid. Be very afraid. It takes very little for me to mistake the sound of your car in the driveway for a chopper coming in over a rice paddy outside of Chu Lai. When my Agent Orange or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) starts acting up, the voices in my head frequently tell me to clean the guns as I wait for you to bring my daughter home. As soon as you pull into the driveway you should exit your car with both hands in plain sight. Speak the perimeter password, announce in a clear voice that you have brought my daughter home safely and early, then return to your car. There is no need for you to come inside. The camouflaged face at the window is mine. Semper Fidelis, fontman

[Squantos]

FYI Funny.......

[EDINVA]

now that’s funny!

We found that by allowing our daughter to start making small decisions at an early age and increasing her responsibility in decision-making as she went through school, by the time she left home for college she was making decisions at least as good as we’d have made for her. Usually better.

[Tax-chick]

I wouldn’t want young men who talk that way to be around my girls.

I don’t hear this kind of language from my sons and their friends, so I think there’s a subculture that we’re missing out on.

[GOP_Raider]

there’s a subculture that we’re missing out on.

I also think Giles misses out on this somehow. Guys he's referring to--at least the type that I knew growing up--sure as hell weren't "dating" in the sense that you and I "dated". The convenient thing about "hooking up" is that one can actually by-pass meeting a girl's parents, at least initially.

[Wings-n-Wind]

I don’t hear this kind of language from my sons and their friends, so I think there’s a subculture that we’re missing out on.

Yup... and that subculture (addressed in the article) is numerically dominant in American culture...

Keeping that subculture AWAY from the daughters is the purpose of the article... methinks...

Sounds like your son/friends are blessed to be apart from those patterns of speech & behavior...
(Mine are likewise blessed)

[napscoordinator]

I hope that happens. Naval Academy for the most part ensures that both men and women grow up and know how to treat others with respect.