As a dad with a daughter, I'll be the first to admit it. I really find the idea of letting her go someday... standing there at the end of an aisle, kissing her cheek and giving her away to the man that she has chosen to love. Now, that day is a long way away, and as she turns two years old in a few days I realize just how fast time is going. So now, what do I do? I spend some time NOW with her. I am finding that one of my favourite things to do is just to lie on the floor and play with her and her dollhouse. It's so cute. She flips the chair upside down so I can lie on it, and them she tried the same thing with her chair. Where my body weight makes the chair, hers barely scratches puts any wight one it, so she is almost upside down herself. She wants to play with her daddy though, and it is one of the ways that I build the relationship with her.
When you look at the results of so many young women growing up without their dads, or just seeing their dad every other weekend, and when you see how much time those men are not spending with their daughters, it is almost no wonder why so many of the young women go searching for male attention. It's sad really.
I will set the example of how a man should treat a woman in my house, first with how I love my kids' mother... my wife. And then I will treat my daughter with love and respect so that she will have a better chance seeing the slime bags.
Here is an article I ran into about loving your daughter in this increasingly sexually charged culture:
Parenting and Protecting Daughters in America's Sexual Culture
What do you do to keep your daughter safe?
Great post Jay! I am also so very careful to spend time with my little girl. I will play whatever she wants to play, and talk about whatever she wants to talk about. It lays the foundation for later on when she REALLY needs to talk to her daddy about the bigger questions of life. The time I spend now, should help to ensure that she will feel confident in me to come and talk...
ReplyDeleteYou are a good man Jay...