By Jett Pe Benito
Greg is about to meet his girlfriend’s (Pam) parents. As he tries to impress them, particularly the stern and unrelenting father, Jack, he winds up hitting his girlfriend’s sister on the nose with a volleyball, losing the family cat, setting the gazebo for the sister’s wedding on fire and is subjected to a lie detector test, administered by Pam’s father. Nothing seems to go right for Greg as he encounters one disaster after another with Pam’s dad as his perennial adversary. All these sound a little too familiar? These are scenes from the hit comedy movie, Meet the Parents.
But if you’re about to seriously talk man-to-man with your girlfriend’s dad on becoming the husband of his little girl, here are some tips on how to get on his good side…and pray that he hasn’t seen the movie.
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Don’t beat around the bush – Nothing would make your future father-in-law lose confidence in you than for you to appear wishy-washy with your intentions. State your feelings about his daughter and assure him that his daughter would be well taken cared for.
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Try to have him empathize with you – You can do this by telling him your apprehensions in meeting him but also say that he, being a young man once like yourself, would be sympathetic to your earnest and honest plans for his daughter.
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Find out his interests – Don’t go as far as hiring a detective to shadow him. Just ask your girlfriend some pointers on what kind of things he likes and what his interests are. Then you could do some research and engage him in a conversation. Don’t go overboard by making him feel inferior, a relaxed talk with him would be enough to break the ice.
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Give the gift after you’ve had the TALK – No matter what the outcome may be, give your gift after you’ve talked. Giving him his favorite cigars or tickets to a basketball game would make him feel that you took time out to show him that you truly care.
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Do it on your own – You would feel a lot better if you did the planning and the talking on your own, without the aid of anyone else…plus have your girlfriend come into the conversation only when you absolutely need her help.
In the movie, Greg ended up with Pam with her father’s approval. And if you stand up to your future bride’s father and show him that you are the right man for his daughter with the help of the pointers above, then the next step would be for him to give her away to you on your wedding day.
Remember that fathers want only the best for their daughters. You never know, in the distant future, a man may come to you and ask for your daughter’s hand in marriage. You’ll have the TALK with him and he may have taken pointers from this article, like you once did, but by then you would have your own video copy of the movie.
