My father tells me lots of stuff and I can see where his actions stem from. Interestingly they are the opposite of the things he did himself.

• tells me to look after my eyes - he was an arc welder so he had to take care especially when arc welding due to the bright light.
• gets annoyed when I scar myself - he was in a motorcycle accident and now has a 12 inch scar on this left forearm.
  • its actually his left arm and its about 9 inches - childhood recollection contain distortions of size and the perception thereof :)
• trusts me to make my own decisions - his father was strict (perhaps his father was too liberal).
• he does things for me without me having to ask - I guess his father was too busy to care for his kids
• he tells me to work hard when you're young so the rest of your life is easy - that's the opposite of what he did.
• he'd rather me study than start work - his (lack of) quailifcatons limited his career prospects.