It's nice to see your father becoming more self aware, isn't it. I think parents are sometimes unaware of how they parented. I had a conversation recently with my dad, in which he mentioned that his father was cruel to him as a kid, nothing was ever good enough and that he would even ridicule them. I said, "did he tell you you always did a half assed job," my dad looked confused, like how did you know that? and said, "yes he did." -Then it dawned on him that he did the same thing to me. Every job I did was "half assed," according to my dad. Funny how the apple doesn't fall far from the printing tree. You had better believe that I will NEVER use that phrase or sentiment with my kids.
My theory is that just being aware of your parent's negative qualities -- and that they're negative -- is all it takes to stop yourself from inheriting them. My younger brother seems to have a pokémon mentality when it comes to our parent's negative qualities, despite all but my most recent attempts to make him a more suitable housemate. Pointing out how much he sounds like one of our parents at the right times actually seems to be having a decent affect.