“When I Was Your Age…” 6 Cliché Things All Arab Dads Do

Arab dads are loving ones, though they can do a few things that’ll make you want to pull your hair out. So we decided to reminisce about all the clichés they do, and we still love (to hate).

Lights Out

Your dad isn’t Arab if he doesn’t go into your room and turns the lights off, even if you just left the room for a second.

It usually comes with the line, “Yesss, You’re not the one paying the bills around here. Are you?” Or an announcement to the whole home, “everyone! Turn off the lights when you leave the room!”

While we didn’t know why they did that when we were young, we grew up to understand it’s all about conserving power and reducing electricity usage costs; however, it’s sometimes really weird, whenever you’re just getting something from the kitchen like a glass of water and come back to find it dark!

Similar to the lights, Arab dads (and sometimes moms), for some reason, love to turn off the air conditioning (AC) if you’re already asleep.

A few minutes later, the cold will start to dissipate slowly, and if you’re under covers, you’ll wake up in a sweat, looking around, and asking yourself “did the power go out or what?”

No Internet For You

If you lived in an Egyptian household, especially during the early days of the internet (and beyond for a lot of people), you’d find that the internet shut off in the middle of the night; a little walk to the router, and you’d find that it switched off for some unknown reason.

A little investigation further, and it turns out that most of our dads like turning off the router at night, why? No particular reason, they just want to give the router some downtime.

What about the rest of the people in the home during that time? “Why are you up at this time? Go to bed,” is the usual response.

Waiting For Our King

Eating together during either lunch or dinner is a mainstay in any Arab home, and when it comes to any family meal, it’s disrespectful to start eating without the head of the family present.

Your mom will tell you to call on your father and tell him that the food’s ready, you’ll waltz right in (after knocking on the door, of course) and relay the news, he’ll nod and tell you he’ll be there in a second, and that’s when things start to deteriorate.

Everybody would be sitting at the table, looking at the food, and waiting for the man of the house to make his entrance, but for some odd reason, he likes to do a few things first, which makes it feel like forever waiting at the table.

That’s why some members of the family tend to snack a little in the kitchen before making the table.

The Dads Interrogation Scene

If you’re ever out with your friends and that outing takes longer than expected, it’s almost a guarantee you’ll find your dad awaiting your arrival. 

He’ll either be waiting in his room and ask you to come in, or sit somewhere next to the door in the dark, recreating a film noir scene from the 1940s, or just like every James Bond villain ever.

That’s when the interrogation starts, “Where have you been?”, “With whom?”, “Why were you late?”, and “Why didn’t you call?” are the questions you’ll be on the receiving end of.

But the line that tends to hurt the most is “I’m not mad, I’m just disappointed,” and BOOM! Instant guilt.

We know it’s coming out of love, but dad, chill, please?

Asking The Queen For Permission

Even though dads tend to walk like the big man of the house (and they are in a way), it’s usually our moms who decide on everything from behind the scenes.

That said, there are situations where he’ll refer you to your mom for the final decision; these situations differ in their severity, and the main purpose for that referral is because he wants to avoid answering.

Usually, the referral happens when there’s a (sometimes embarrassing) question that he wants to avoid, or if there’s any big decision that might affect you, him, or the house in any way. 

The biggest reason he does this is because your dad doesn’t want to take any potential responsibility for what might happen, that way, he can’t take the blame for it later.

When I Was Your Age

Ah, yes, the “When I was your age…” line. Any good story from your dear old dad will start with those words, and the following story tends to be a bit mythical. 

Ranging everything from dodging bullets and crossing wild rivers to fighting bears and always being at the top of their class, there is always a moral to the story; however, you end up sitting there looking into the void, thinking this can’t be all true.

It’s that generational difference that’s making things feel a bit farfetched, and the fact there was no social media during those days, proving that these claims aren’t true isn’t easy.

To all our dads, we love you!

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