Here is a talk I often give to young fathers around the tables with young daughters.
Daughters can scare the hell out of young fathers. Here is what you get to do.
If your daughter is small, she will never remember the promises you did not yet break, the school plays you did not yet miss. You are starting fresh.
Our kids act like they do not hear us, but they do. And when our girls become adolescents and young teens, they will push back against boundaries. That is what they are supposed to do. But when we enforce those boundaries with love, compassion, and care, they feel safe.
Here is the important part: more than listen, they watch. Little eyes are on us all the time, watching how we handle stress, how we deal with disagreements, how we celebrate joy. We are modeling behavior whether we want to or not.
If we can model what character, integrity, honor, courage, loyalty, and forgiveness look like, then who do you think our daughters will look for in a life partner? They will look for what they have seen for twenty-five years or more.
This is what we get to do for our daughters.
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