A message to all the daddies with little girls out there.

When was the last time you had a daddy day with your princess? Do you hold her hand with walks and talk to her about life? Do you remind her that she is special and you will always be her dad? Do you tell her she is a leader?

I can tell you this, it is so important. Having worked with youth for 20+ years, it seems like a majority of issues are rooted with their relationship or lack of relationships with their dads. Self esteem, self worth, and self confidence begins before she can walk.

I’m saying this to you because I know it to be true. Every day I greet Grace in her crib, pick her up, and exclaim how happy I am to see her. We immediately look in the mirror and I remind her how beautiful she is, how smart she is, and how God has a big purpose in her life. Throughout the day I make a point to remind her of these truths. At night when I rock her to sleep I tell her that she is so smart, and we discuss her being a doctor, President, or the next Billy Graham. The title changes nightly, but the point remains the same. I then tell her that her Daddy in heaven (God) thinks she is beautiful and that her daddy here thinks she is beautiful too. I tell her real beauty starts from her heart. She always smiles and says ok dada.

Today we went to a park to hunt for butterflies and to throw rocks into the water. As I held her, I reminded her how much fun it is to be her dad. She giggled back, “ok dada more rocks please”. Ha, I took that as a yes and grabbed some more rocks!