The Good Father

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This was posted as a comment to my 9/3 post, but I think it deserves more visibility. It was posted by the author, who also is my kids’ Dad.
FATHERS AND DAUGHTERS
Little girls are nice
but we do them wrong
fussing with their hair and dressing them up
like dolls —
teaching them from the start
they are playthings.
Better we should feed them
words and numbers and tools
to remind them
that before women, they are people.
Teach them love and caring and nurture, yes,
but not as the entirety of their being,
else those qualities become walls and prisons.
Give them, as well, wings
and teach them to fly —
in case later in life
someone builds walls around them.
Little girls are nice,
but daughters who are their soaring selves
are better.

2 thoughts on “The Good Father”

  2. My daughter’s middle name is Indiana. It was my wife’s concession to my wish to name her Indiana Jones Rogers. I figured if we named her after a fictional character of intelligence and adventurous spirit, she might be inspired to escape all the traps we lay for our daughters.
    On the other hand, there is something rather gauche about naming your kids after movie characters.
    But one of these days I’m going to give her a fedora and a leather jacket. I think I’ll pass on the bull whip though.

    Reply ↓

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