A Note to Dads With Daughters
Dads…
Spend as much time as possible with your little girl!
NOW!!
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Seriously, do it right now!!!
It's not too late.
I don't care how old she is…start right now. (I just had a conversation a few weeks ago with a guy who flew to California for a day to spend some time with his daughter who is in her 20′s because she wanted to talk to him about something face to face.)
I know…there are times its awkward.
I began "dating" Charisse (my four year old daughter) when she was about 8-9 months old. Every Saturday morning I would get her up, read her Bible with her, get her dressed and then take her to Chic Fil A.
Yes, it was weird.
She could not really communicate to me.
She could not tell me what she wanted to eat (usually it was the cheese off of my biscuit.)
I received weird looks from men when I had to take her into the restroom when I had to change her diaper. (It was ALWAYS obvious when she needed a diaper change–WOW!)
But Dads…we must FIGHT through the awkwardness in order for her to have an awareness that we are always there, that we love her, care about her and will do whatever it takes to have a relationship with her.
Charisse is older now…she can talk to me and tell me what she wants. We still go on a date every Saturday morning and just the other day I asked her how much longer she wanted to have daddy dates on Saturday mornings…she replied, "for the rest of my life!"
I've got to be honest…I had a lump in my throat and fought back tears!!! Then it hit me…the reason she said that is because I fought through the awkwardness. I did not give her to Lucretia and somehow believe the false assumption that I would establish some sort of relationship with her when she became older because of the awkwardness.
It's ALWAYS going be a little awkward!
Heck, the other day I asked her what she wanted to do and she replied, "play with my fairy dolls."
I can PROMISE YOU that "play with fairy dolls" is not on the list of top 1,000 things I would like to do on a Saturday afternoon (and yes, I did throw other suggestions her way.)
BUT…at the end of the day that's what she wanted to do…and so we did it. (I was Silvermist for any of the ladies reading who might be interested!)
One day she will get older…I won't be as cool…
But…even then I'm dedicated to fighting through the awkwardness so her awareness that I love her and am always going to be with her is always there.
Dads…God blessed us with little girls, she should know what it means to be loved, cherished, valued and protected by a man because of who her father is and not her boyfriend!
So, I don't know how old your daughter is but I can promise you this…it's NOT TOO LATE!!!
She needs YOU to be her daddy!
She won't tell you that because you are the leader and are the one who is supposed to take the initiative in the relationship.
Step up, be a man…you can do this!
My prayer for Charisse is that when she hears about her heavenly Father that she does not have to wrestle with thoughts of how God may abuse, abandon or neglect her because of how I (her earthly father) treated her!
I'm not perfect, I've made mistakes (and when I do I apologize to her and ask for her forgiveness.)
However, at the end of the day it is my goal to do this right; after all, she is my little girl and it is my job to make it as difficult as possible for some guy to come along and steal her away one day! :-)
Fight through the awkwardness and make her aware that you are there, that you love her and that your love in not simply declared but rather demonstrated by the fact that you intentionally spend time with her.
Anyone need to schedule a date with their little girl? :-)
