This Father’s Day, I was thinking about the unique and absolutely wonderful bond between a father and a child…especially a girl child. Most guys I know crave to have a daughter. Even after being blessed with a daughter, my husband would still love to have another daughter. And no matter how big you grow, you would still be the most precious thing on earth for your dad. And dads are absolutely blind about their children. :-)
To this day my dad feels I am the most beautiful girl on earth. The smartest, the brainiest, the most gifted girl on earth. No matter how many better looking girls I point out to him, his answers are always the same….”They are good looking, but you are better”. If I point out a smarter girl, he would still say “You are more intelligent than her”…. Sometimes I used to get irritated with this trait of his…But now all I can do is smile and say “You need deep seated devotion to be that blind”. :-)
It’s not that they would blindly agree to whatever you say or think. While growing up my dad’s and my views were diametrically opposite on multiple occasions. We have had many heated discussions on a range of topics, from wearing lipstick to my sleeping habits. Sometimes we would even lose track of what the debate was about, but we didn’t care. Both of us are very good at talking and love to convince the other person that the rabbit I am holding truly does have three horns (that’s a famous Malayalam saying by the way). :-)
But wherever it mattered, his position was always clear – and that would be right next to me.
Looking back, I am amazed to realize that I never had any major rebellions. It was not because I was meek and obedient. On the contrary, my dad and I are really strong personalities. But the fact is I never really felt the need. Like I once told my friend…. when you get all the freedom that you need, and when you know you are being trusted to know, and do the right thing always…somehow you just don’t see a cause to rebel. My parents gave me all the space I needed to grow…and where they needed to reel me in, they always did so lovingly…and explained the reasons for it. I am not saying my dad was not protective…. In fact he was one of those over-protective dads…. But he always knew how to balance it with a lot of freedom too. He was so loving that I never felt stifled by the boundaries he set. He always made me realize that the boundaries were for my own good, without making the message too loud and clear. And as any parent knows, that one achievement is worth a Nobel prize for parenting. Come to think of it, why isn’t there a Nobel prize for Parenting? Parents totally deserve awards, I say.
Now that I have a child of my own…all I can pray is that I prove to be as good a parent as my dad proved to be...That my husband manages to make our little girl feel just as special as my dad made me feel….
Because every girl loves to be her dad’s princess…
Every girl loves to be ‘Daddy’s Little Girl’…. :-)
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