Bill Belew has raised 2 bi-cultural kids, now 34 and 30. And he and his wife are now parenting a 3rd, Mia, who is 8.

I’m glad at last I got a chance to write on this topic – A Lesson I Learned from My Working Dad and again on this blog as a guest writer. Here you go I’m all set to write my favorite topic on dooverdad blog. Yay! Growing up as a child I’ve always admired my working dad who was a role model to me and not mention to my other siblings.

Not just any lesson in fact I learned many lessons from my dad. My working dad is my provider, a protector, a teacher, a friend, a role model and my back bone. Without him we’re nothing today. Apart from his busy schedule, he tried his best to provide to all the facilities, I never faced any trouble till he passed away. There was never a moment I forgot him, I can feel his presence all the time.

As far as my knowledge goes, he took care of me and always protected me in every wrong step that I was about to make. My mother being my first teacher, in my real life my father got that chance – like being my teacher. My mother had to spend solid 4 years in other state to take care of my cousin who came to India from the US to pursue her medicine. My mother had to take care of her in other city, other state! I missed being my mom in those crucial period of my life, when it was my learning phase. So my working dad took control of everything including my mom’s role and stood strong by our sides and taught many new things, helped with our homework, fixed our lunches and dinners and washed our dirty laundry – he used to do all these without a single complaint.

Unlike the US, all working dads in India got to work 6 days in a week and sometimes on weekends though he used to work for a government firm. I remember he coming pretty late in the nights, quickly fixed our dinners, asked us the

general questions and well-being questions like how we did that particular day/how was our day/did we complete doing our homework, and other things., he made sure that he offered his shoulder to cry on, gave a listening ear to our problems, helped us in solving them on our own and without any complaint.

Why I called my dad as a role model?! Well there’s a good reason for calling him so. Being an Assistant Officer at a Police Administration Office, he’s a Poet, he’s Philanthropist, an Animal Lover…etc., My working dad had always had a kind heart towards the poor things – people, animals, and anything you think can fall into this category. My dad always provided shelter to stray dogs and cats. You wouldn’t believe all those stray cats and dogs became our pets and we treated them as our family members.

My working dad encouraged us in our studies and also in our curricural activities. Specially speaking about Indian working dads, all these things are usually taken care of mothers or we’ve training institutions that used to train us in our weak area of concentration. And I can proudly say that never in my life got a chance to join such institutions.

No matter how successful I’ve become today or yet to become, my working dad will be my backbone for N number of reasons.

After all this discussion and description of my working dad; that one lesson that I learned from my working dad is – never to show your impatience in your work, to take things carefully and slowly, sharing is caring, help others who are less fortunate, always be available for your family and friends, and many others!

My working dad is my HERO! He may not be with us here today but he lives our hearts. DAD, I’m proud of you.

Talk to Bill and others about their experiences raising bi-cultural Japanese-American kids.