Any tells his son to soberly build a garden and home and tend it, which is true on a literal level about keeping a tidy property, and also a metaphor for an orderly and moral soul. Do not rely on another man's goods, he says. Do not fall into debt -- credit card debit or otherwise. Treat elders with respect -- rise when they come into the room. But do not strike back at a brawler, or reveal too much of yourself. However, this last bit of advice that stresses the need for social decorum that may reveal something unique about Egyptian society. Clearly ancient Egypt was a hierarchical society, and perhaps highly politically charged. Treating one's social better with deference, and not revealing too much of one's own affairs was integral to one's personal and social survival. But although the political atmosphere in ancient Egypt was no doubt very different than modern society, even this counsel would not necessarily be unwise today. For example, the father tells his son to speak sweetly to superiors. Although a modern-day father might not advise quite such deferential behavior, and be more apt to say 'stick up for yourself,'...

When Any ends with an exhortation about supporting the boy's mother in her old age it is hard not to think of the old slogan 'mom, God, and apple pie.' (Although this shows the father's unstated anxiety of being taken care of, perhaps, in his own old age, and he is too afraid to bring up his own decrepitude).
The reply by the son is also timely and resonates with the modern era. The boy says he can only obey his nature, and that the father's virtues are 'too numerous' to obey all at once. Although this irritates his father, this reply injects a note of realism into the didacticism, and underlines that all moral counsel must be obeyed in the real world. The young must first make their own mistakes before obeying their elder's counsel to the letter.