The Thought

In 2013, we visited a family friend.  We love and respect this family a lot.   The father is a recognized top fertility doctor in the country, and the wife has been a stay-at-home mom since they started having children.  Together they have 4 outstanding children (3 girls and 1 boy).    Our conversations ranged from living in the city to choosing careers and from rock bands to raising kids.

As we chatted, they imparted to us a very special advice on raising daughters.

Liz (not her real name) told us this:

“As a father, you (mrdeeppockets) need to make sure your daughter feels confident and secure. She needs to hear from you that she is beautiful, smart, and gifted.  You would want to tell her that you’d take her out on a date if you had been her age and friend.”

She also said that I follow these words through with actions.  Take her out on a date.  Spend some time with her, just the two of us.

The Action

My daughter was 5 at that time. She is now 9. I have taken her advice to heart, and I tell my daughter that she is smart, and beautiful inside and out.  We go on dates.  We play racquetball together, eat out at Chic-Fil-A, and some times just go on biking rides.

Since I have taken Liz’s advice to heart and practiced it, I don’t know what the consequences would have been if I had not followed her advice.  But one thing I do know is that my daughter feels confident and secure.

She is excelling in her class.  She ran and was voted as class president.  She does volunteer work at school, and even defended girls who were being teased by other kids.  And this happened without us knowing until the teacher told us about it.

Now, clearly, it’s not just the compliments or daddy daughter dates we do that contribute to her development, but we do know that the advice helps quite a bit!

I expect to continue this practice until the day I die.   I have another daughter who is less than 1 year old and she will get the same daddy treatment.

Note:  Will comment on how to raise boys.