By Aaron and Josh Danielpour, sons of Lisa Danielpour, and nephews of Vicky Keston, Co-Founders of Gooseling
We are very lucky to have an awesome Dad who really cares about us and has put in so much time and energy into guiding us and our interests. As we’ve gotten older (we’re 13 and 20 years old) and look back on what’s most important to us, having a great Dad to laugh with, hang out with, and yes, set us straight when we needed it, has been essential to our development. We thought we’d share our insights to younger kids who are still at the beginning of “raising” their Dads. Here’s what we think was most important.
We have always had unforgettable moments with our father, who is a cancer research scientist and professor. We love that our Dad treats us like little people even when we were tiny. He shares what’s going on in his lab, and never thought we were too young to learn about science and other 
topics important to him. From the youngest age, he started doing science story time with us, making his once upon a time stories about topics like DNA rather than the Three Little Bears. He taught us concepts that most kids and parents don’t understand, growing in complexity as we got older. This helped pique our curiosity, thus we both asked a lot of questions (and still do), and led to bonding time watching the Science Channel together.
Our Dad is warm, loving and fun, critical skills for father excellence. Despite his serious demeanor when it comes to work and professionalism, our Dad makes us laugh with his wonderful sense of humor. He can have quite a high tolerance for our shenanigans and mishaps, which has proved very handy for him and us. He also has patience with our occasional (okay, common) missteps. Dad is great at encouraging us while keeping us out of trouble and yes, providing the occasional lecture about what to do and not to do. (We appreciate these only being occasional.)
We all know the reputation of fathers as handymen, and our Dad’s no exception. Whenever we need help with setting something up, like our TVs, a piece of furniture, or even clogged plumbing (don’t go there!), or replacing lights, he is always able to find some solution to the problem and help us out. As we’ve gotten older, in return we’ve been happy to provide tech support to him. His intuition has helped us develop our own problem solving abilities. We like that he doesn’t tell us how to do things, and instead encourages us to find our own solution.
Our Dad’s career in cancer research has inspired us to follow our own passions. We’ve used what he taught us about math and science to pursue our own interests. Our Dad has always encouraged us and never pushed us to follow any particular path. We also love the role model he’s been for committing his life’s work to helping others. This inspires us to want to help people, too.
We hope our Dad, David Danielpour, and all the other wonderful Dads out there have a wonderful Father’s Day with their children!