As a child of the ’70s, I considered Han Solo the epitome of manhood.
Fiercely independent, yet secretly sentimental. Skeptical, but willing to believe in magic if he sees it with his own eyes.
Secure enough in his own skin to pursue a princess, but not above taking a wide-eyed farm boy under his wing. Best friends with a Wookiee.
A lovable scoundrel who poses as a mercenary, but who deep down recognizes the best things in life are free.
In short — the ideal dad.
I readily acknowledge that my exposure to Star Wars at a young age shaped the adult I have become. And while Obi Wan was a superb mentor and Vader achieved redemption in the end, it was Han Solo who taught me the most about how to be a good dad.
Here are just a few examples of why I believe General Solo, who had not fathered children with Leia Organa as of the end of Episode VI, still might be the finest father figure in the history of this or any other galaxy:
Nine things Han Solo taught me about fatherhood
1. When the kids get difficult, use redirection.
(And if you must leave a mess for someone else to clean up, tip well.)
2. Trust your instincts. Even in the face of utter uncertainty.
3. If you don’t like what is being said, change the conversation.
(To be fair, Don Draper also teaches us this.)
4. Give praise where it’s due — but don’t overdo it.
5. Make a smile your default expression.
6. Learn to work with your hands.
7. When all else fails — bluff.
(But if the bluff fails, know when it’s time to cut your losses.)
8. Give the kids room to succeed or fail — but a little help every now and then can’t hurt.
9. Never let them forget how much you love them.
Images/videos: giphy.com; imgur; YouTube
A slightly different version of this post appeared on the Huffington Post following publication here.
Carter Gaddis, Writer & Editor 
76 responses to “9 Things Han Solo Taught Me About Being a Dad”
Don’t forget to be scruffy looking
Who’s scruffy looking?
Nice post. I would add never be afraid to do the dirty jobs, even when they require cutting open your dead-ass tauntaun to keep your buddy alive.
I needed to leave a few things for the next nine Han Solo dad tips!
I know.
And he shoots first… Oh wait, that’s not helpful here.
Great list! Also, he is willing to go along with something he doesn’t believe is real. “Let the force be with you.”
He has to see it to believe it, though. Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid. (Until proven otherwise.)
Proven. 😉
The whole Parsecs being distance not time. Lesson: Always have an answer, and say it with confidence. They’ll probably believe you.
Awesome!
This is awesome! We don’t have kids – yet, but I am so sharing this with my husband. It’s awesome!
Thanks!
You are my hero. This is brilliant.
You like me because I’m a scoundrel.
Haha nice list, especially number 5. I reckon you should do another article on 9 things you wouldn’t want to learn from Han Solo as a dad. The first one would probably be that he spends too much time playing with his Wookie 🙂 I wrote a Star Wars inspired post on our recent 4D scan which features Han Solo in carbonite if you fancy a read? http://thedadventurer.com/pregnancy/finding-han-solo-4d-scan/
Have you seen the book Vader and Son? I think you would enjoy it.
Fun post. I forwarded it to my brother-in-law
Next listy-thingy should be 9 Things Jar-Jar Binks Taught Me About My Kids
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This was rather entertaining! Good read.
Thanks!
I wonder what they’ll have in store for Han and the gang in the new trilogy. He had kids in the Expanded Universe, but apparently the new trilogy will turn a lot of that non-canonical. Will he have kids in the new movie? We’ll just have to wait and see.
Congratulations on being Freshly Pressed.
Love this…
*dies laughing* OH I love it!!! Got to love Han Solo!
I fell in love with Han Solo when I was 16 and saw Star Wars five times – that was all that my pocket money would stretch to at the time. Admittedly I wasn’t thinking of him as a father-figure so much as husband material…
Great post!
This is fantastic. I’ll bare this in mind when dealing with my two year old.
This made me smile 🙂 Growing up in the 70’s, he was my favorite of all the Star Wars characters!
The Force is strong with this one. So much awesome in this post!
Love this!
Excellent post. As a Dad of two children, I can appreciate how true a lot of this list really is!!
Enjoyed reading this 🙂
Congratulations on being Freshly Pressed!
https://randomplethora.wordpress.com
Reblogged this on Character and culture builders and commented:
This is brilliant!
Brilliant ! Congrats for being in readers fresh .
This is such a great post and you have made an instafan. Had me chuckling from start to finish
this made me smile, thank you for sharing it
Fun.maybe it will be helpful for me somewhere in the future
Awesome!
God bless the Han
Reblogged this on wezzie1975313's Blog.
Rule #10: Recognize the comedy of it all and enjoy the ride.
Congrats on being Freshly Pressed!
His instinctive ability to completely understand Chewy’s indecipherable grunts, groans and cries would, I believe, make it a cinch for him to decipher toddler babble. Or adolescent boys.
That was a fun read. A dad has a important job and the world seems to want to hide this now.
Reblogged this on Matt's Blog and commented:
Its amazing how these scenes and lodge in my memory…..
Congratulations on being freshly pressed… This is fantastic and definitely deserves it! 🙂
This is amazing. Just sent to my Star Wars-lovin’ dad. 🙂
Good blog. Can’t help but add that being able to respond with a quick comeback is priceless with children.
I got a bad feeling about this….errrrr. I mean, I’ve got a good feeling about this.
About the bluff, always act like you belong. It makes others question themselves.
These are awesome. I would add, ‘never be afraid to wade through mess or ask for help’, insert garbage compactor scene 🙂
I know one thing he taught me, “get a hat” !
Loved it. So funny but rings so true. 🙂
I saw Star Wars when I was 11 in 1977, the first kid in my class to do so. I have hung onto this claim to fame all my life.
Of course, I rooted for Luke and Leia, before things got weird. Luke was the hero, but Han was what made the movie cool. I never thought of him as a father figure, though. Fresh perspective. Well done.
Thank you! Saw it 3 times in the theater in ’77.
We old.
[…] DadScribe: Carter Gaddis is awesome, and here’s why: 9 Things Han Solo Taught Me About Being a Dad. […]
Guten Start in die neue Woche wünsch ich 😉
This is an awesome post.
brilliant post, it made me smile. thanks for posting 🙂
#7 is crucial!
I’m a sucker for anything Star Wars related. Nice work : )
[…] Gaddis (see? I spelled it right this time) at Dadscribe.com recently made a splash with his post “9 Things That Han Solo Taught Me About Being A Dad”. Not to be outdone, fellow dadblogger John Kinnear at AskYourDadBlog.com responded with “6 […]
[…] look to the media and popular culture – Doctor Who and Han Solo being too recent examples I’ve […]
Yeah, chicks dig “scruffy-looking”. As long the hygiene is still good, that is.
That’s brilliant! And true!
I’d love to see a follow up on how Indiana Jones makes a decent dad too. Harrison Ford is my favorite actor of all time! Great article!
[…] few weeks ago, fellow dad blogger DadScribe posted an article called 9 Things Han Solo Taught Me About Being a Dad, where he shared parenting tips that he learned from the beloved character from Star Wars. It got […]
[…] their recent (and very good) pop culture fatherhood posts. in particular, Carter Gaddis’ Star Wars themed post and John Kinnear’s Doctor Who post were big hits. I really liked them too, and noted I had […]
Never thought of Han as the father-type…
Reblogged this on Pimpf : Drifting somewhere… and commented:
so great !
that was funny absolutly hillarious even from a single mothers perspective (are us mothers allowed in here)? father only zone haaa thats ok, i’m off for coffee to wake up before they wake up for school ventures
We are all-inclusive around here. Welcome!
super cool, just been looking over the starwars site, found a whole list of those old books from back when i was a kid in the 80’s and 90’s guessing you was to and the wookie-pedia lol, we girls fell in love with the ewoks hehehe
[…] Here’s one of mine from last year. http://dadscribe.com/2014/07/16/han-solo-parenting-tips/ […]
Reblogged this on Planet Watcher.
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