Most dads are task masters at handing out “Life Lessons” advice to their kids. “Gather round. Let me share my wisdom. Back in my day. This is how the world works. Be like Dad.” It’s all good. But sometimes, quite often in fact, we could learn a boatload of life lessons from our children. Daughters, especially, because they offer a point of view dads are unlikely to consider outside of the unique opportunity presented when we pay attention to our girls.
Men with daughters have right of entry into a world we could never access without them. It’s a little out there; it often defies logic and, it is not anchored to anything most men understand. It is a world we ignore at our peril.
Learn more from 5 Life Lessons Dads Can Learn from Their Daughters.
1. Winning isn’t the only thing.
Guys often get bogged down in the need to win. Children, young girls especially, seem to enjoy the process, and the relationships, more than the bottom line of the result.
2. Hugs can be better than words.
How many times have we tried to deal with a problem, or fix a wrong, or correct a misunderstanding, by trying to get our kids (or our wife) to see reason? Okay, now how many times has that worked? Take a cue from our daughters, skip the lecture and move directly to the hug. “Just hold me,” is never a bad move.
3. A tea party can improve pretty much any situation.
Sometimes it’s a plastic play set, or maybe there’s not any real tea, and sometimes the cookies are imaginary too; but I’ve never seen a man step outside of the routine to drink tea with a little girl and not come back healed, even if only a little bit.
4. It wouldn’t hurt to pay a little more attention to our appearance.
Don’t worry, we’re not recommending props such as top hats and cufflinks. Our daughters are right on the money when they say, “Mom would like you to shave before you kiss her,” “You’d sell more insurance if you wore a better tie,” or, “The parent-teacher conference is not the right place for your cargo shorts!”
5. It’s just as important to recognize feelings as it is to understand the facts
One (critical) dad we know complained to his wife about their pre-teen daughter. “You’d think she’d learn to be a little less sensitive by now?” Mom didn’t miss a beat when she shot back, “You’d think her dad would have learned to be a little more sensitive after 12-years.”
Huddle up with your kids tonight and ask: “If you were giving Mom and Dad some advice, what life lessons could we learn from you?”