Tyrese Gibson's 10 Noteworthy Tips On Fatherhood

The Furious 7 star and mayor of this year's BET Experience shares his lessons in parenting.

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It's no secret that Tyrese Gibson is an awesome dad. You might remember THIS video back in April 2014 of the star teaching his now 7 year old daughter, Shayla, the importance of self-confidence. Since he's got this whole parenting thing on lock, we invited the mayor of this year's BET Experience to BuzzFeed's Los Angeles office to share even more tips on being a great father.

1. Make sure to communicate often.

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Tyrese: As your child gets older, it becomes more and more important to communicate.

2. Always provide a sense of comfort.

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Tyrese: Your child should feel very comfortable with telling you whatever it is that's on their mind, so you can do your job as a parent and actually give them insider information and really lookout for them in whatever way you can. Obviously you're older and you know more.

3. Teach your child how to react in stressful situations.

BuzzFeed

Tyrese: I have created this thing with my daughter where I say, "Don't ever give away your power." If a little kid is being mean or aggressive or whatever is happening in her school, and she finds herself getting all riled up from it, and mad and crying and emotional, and she displays that at school, I explain to her that you're giving away your power. So after she ends up doing it, then I say to her, "The next day when you go back to school, I want you to take your power back, and this is how you do it." Whatever that conversation may be, whatever that moment may be, whatever that gesture may be, take your power back.

4. Let your child know it's OK to mess up.

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Tyrese: Reading with your kids helps so much. Making them feel comfortable when they're making mistakes while they're reading. Correct them instead of coming down on them when they make mistakes. Make them feel comfortable. It encourages them and makes them feel really good that they can make mistakes and be flawed in front of their dad or their mom. It does a lot for their morale that, "I can be imperfect, but I'm still perfect in my parent's eyes."

5. Education is priority.

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Tyrese: Number five is education. Education is beyond important. Really, education should be number one. Number five, education, education, education.

6. Promote healthy eating.

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Tyrese: We all know that the right food intake is a pattern, is a habit, it's something that starts early. I think right now, this is beautiful. Right now we are growing up in a very health conscious wold like we've never had. Ever. That's very important, when people actually make you feel bad about eating wrong instead of embracing it. There's no more, "Do your thang, baby. It's all good! Double bacon cheese burger, hot fries with the extra chili cheese sauce. Do your thang, baby!" So I think it's very important to create these type of patterns and habits early.

7. Allow your child to explore creatively.

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Tyrese: Allow for your child to explore creatively so that they can discover what their interests are. Is it art? Is it painting? Is it coloring? Is it music? Is it love for the arts in whatever capacity? Just allow for them to explore and not try and create boundaries and a sort of direction for them.

8. Praise individuality.

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Tyrese: I have instilled this in my child where I said to her, "God made you individually you." And I tell her all the time to hold up her finger and I say to her, "Shayla, no one in the world has this fingerprint. Which means you are the only person in the world." I tell her all the time, "You are individually you." And then I make her take that finger and put it up to her mind and I say to her, "No one has your mind, your thoughts, your creativity, your intentions around this world. Anything, it starts with your own mind." And then I make her point to her chest and I tell her, "No one has your heart and no one loves as big as you."

9. Quality time is key.

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Tyrese: That is that daddy daughter bonding time. It is so incredibly crucial.

10. Lastly, stand by your child's side NO MATTER WHAT.

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Tyrese: As a father, I feel like it is my duty and responsibility to give my daughter a heads up about everything. About what's around the corner before she gets there. We are life partners. I'm her friend. She's going to be able to talk to me about anything and everything she wants and hopefully won't keep any secrets from dad because she knows I got her back. She knows that I'm going to tell her the truth even if it pisses her off and makes her uncomfortable. Because if she doesn't learn it from dad, I'll be concerned about who she's out there learning these life lessons from.

And Shayla, your dad's got something to tell you.

BuzzFeed

BuzzFeed

Tickets are still available for this week's BET Experience events at L.A. Live presented by Coca-Cola HERE.

And check out Tyrese giving his daughter a lesson in confidence below...it's pretty epic. Happy Father's Day!

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