RAISING A STRONG DAUGHTER - WEEK 5 - CHAPTER 4

RAISING A STRONG DAUGHTER IN A TOXIC CULTURE: 11 STEPS TO KEEP HER HAPPY, HEALTHY, AND SAFE by Meg Meeker, M.D.

Calling all fathers! If you didn't know it, you are important in your daughter's life!

Wasn't the story of the coats amazing? I am absolutely dumbfounded by that, but it makes sense! My father hasn't ever sewn me anything, but I do have a couple of his old shirts hanging in my closet. (My father is still alive by the way ) There is so much wrapped up in those shirts that I saw my dad wear day in and day out. They remind me of the dad who split firewood to keep our wood stove going in the house (our only source of heat growing up), who remodeled our one room schoolhouse home constantly to make it work better for our family, who read the paper and drink a cup of coffee in them, who pulled us on sled rides, and raked piles of leaves for us to jump in. My dad was a professional man during the day working long hours at his job, but at night the dress shirt and tie went into the closet and the flannel or jean shirt came out. That's what hangs in my closet.

I am feeling a bit convicted. I am the mom that tries to bridge the gap between current styles and my husband sometimes (within reason). I'm just going to leave it at that, because anything I say at this point to justify it is going to sound really weak!

Regarding young men and dating, I'll just throw in here that my husband has basically made it clear to our girls that anyone that wants to date them has to date him first. He's going to get to know them before they go out (and that has been the case). We do have girls in college now, so they are more in control of the situation, but they know the expectation because of their father's leadership. Not only do they know it, but they agree with and understand it! They aren't looking to foster a lifelong problem.

Conviction number 2 - the Egg Rolls. I have snapped at my husband before knowing all the details of a situation in front of my kids. Praise the Lord, he is a pretty forgiving type of guy. I feel about as high as a worm when I realize what I've done when those situations happen. Setting out to take him down a peg or two, it's myself that gets taken down by my own words and actions.

How often have we heard about teens acting out, because they're desperate for any kind of attention

They just want to be seen and heard.

The take away- It's never too late to begin fostering the kind of relationship you want

with your daughter. There's always hope!