At our recent Father Daughter dinner, guest speaker, Patricia Falcetta (https://sociallivingsolutions.com.au/) shared the following with dads – on the evening a few fathers asked for this and I thought it would be excellent to share with you all.
“Fathers are pivotal in their daughter’s lives. Fathers are very powerful at establishing values for their girls. Values such as trust, respect, honesty, integrity, racism and generosity. Modelling is the best way to demonstrate these values. Remember she is watching you!
Fathers remember to:
- Have regular dad dates with your daughter
- Have trips where you and your daughter travel together
- Finding creative ways to make time together despite a busy schedule.
- Helping her to know that she is special, in specific ways and with a unique part to play in the world
- Listening to her without leaping in with advice and valuing her opinions – remember the plumber and the policeman.
- Talking to her about values in how you treat people – trust, honesty, integrity, racism and sexism – and how people treat her.
- Talking to her practically about drug use, peer pressure, what drugs are around and the associated risks with them. Even if she uses drugs keep communication patterns open
- Being involved in her schooling.
- Treating her with respect, so that she learns she deserves that.
- Understanding that she listens to how you talk about her and to her.
