To Build A Friend, is to Be A Friend

A Dad’s Influence

If you were asked if a Dad have an influence in his daughter’s life, I hope you would be like me in say, “Absolutely Yes”.  But how would I know this? Well, I am the daughter of a man that taught me everything I know.  He was kind, he was loving, he was a hard worker, but most of all, he was my Dad.

I will share with you the impact my Dad made in my life, as he made many, but this is one that I am reminded of almost every day.  When I was 16 years of age I got my first job. This was in the 1960s, and having a job back then really meant something special.  It meant that you were trustworthy, and you did not mind working.

After working my job for one month, my Dad took me to the Bank and said, I want you to open a Bank account and deposit all these checks in it. He went on to say, “Make no withdrawels from it except for a rainy day”.  That was a strange statement for me to hear, because, I did not know what a rainy day meant.

It was years later before I was able to grasp exactly what my dad was trying to telling me. It meant to make a withdrawel only in cases of an emergency. Wow, that blew me away!  What emergency could a girl 16 years old encounter?

That influence was a game changer for me, even today it is still edged in my mind 50 years later, and my husband has instilled those same values in our five daughters. It is not easy to do this with all the glitter and glamour the world continously throws at us. It says spend, spend, spend.

A Dad’s influence in the life of his daughter cannot be measured with money. You just can’t put a dollar tag on it.  It is something that set the course of her life because a daughter trust her Dad, and that trust is so important in molding how she see other men in her life.

I recently saw a social media post with a photo portraying a dad spending quality time with his daughter, and for the record let’s say he was a good dad. They were both standing on the porch of their home. The dad was standing beside his daughter, pointing outward from the house showing her the beautiful scenery of the land that was before them.

The daughter had a beautiful smile on her face as she gleaned from just being in her dad’s presence. She was soaking up the attention he was giving her and that was a special moment. A quick thought came over me to catch that moment and write about it. It was my opportunity to reach out to all dads who may have been blessed to have a daughter.

Your love and attention is so important, it does not go unnoticed, and she will cherish it forever. I know, because my dad is no longer alive, and I am still cherishing those special times he spent with me.

Being a dad is one who raise a child as his own. He does not necessarily have to be her dad by birth. So, If you have been living the Dad Role to a daughter or child. You are making an impact. God bless you!

The greatest impact in a young girl’s life will normally (not always), come from her relationship with her dad. Daughters in most cases will seek those same traits she saw growing up in her dad – in the man she marry.

So, I dedicate this post to my husband who has been an excellent dad to all my daughters, although they were not all his by birth. He was a dad to all of them, and that is what a real dad is all about.

When your daughter grows up, and becomes an adult, everything that you have instilled in her will still be with her.  It molds her personality, the way she thinks, and most of all, the way she feels about herself.  She will be what you have invested in her. It becomes who she is, and what she aspires to be. She will live by those learned principles . And unfortunately, it works the same whether good or bad. She will desire to be just like you.

Please comment me with your thoughts. It is never to late to become a good dad. Start today!