Parenting: How Hard Is It Letting Go For A Father?
Most fathers dread the day they have to walk their daughters down that aisle. It’s a joyous occasion for most, but for dads, not so much.
We’re happy that our child is happy and has found love, however, it comes with a price. For her entire life, we’ve tried to shield her away from heartbreak but there will come a time when everything we taught her gets put to the test. If she’s getting married, we must come to terms with either one or two realistic possibilities. One, she has already had sex or two, she will that night.
That’s a crushing blow to any father’s ego. But, what if it was our son getting married? Would we still care as much? No, and that’s the honest truth. Yes, there is a double standard there and one that most fathers are proud to admit. But what it really boils down to is letting go. It’s a little harder letting go of your daughter than it is your son. The logic behind that is something I still haven’t really figured out yet.
Think about it. Since birth, fathers were given the role of provider and protector. As a parent, it was our job to clothe, teach and mold our children. And while that has been great and the experience can bring joy to our face, we know in the back of our mind, it doesn’t last forever.
There will come that day where everything changes The day they no longer need us. It could be dropping them off at college. The day we ship them off to the military or the day we walk them down the aisle to be married. At some point, we as fathers must let go. Doing that with a male we raised is a bit easier than with a daughter.
The boys, we teach to be strong while our little girls we teach them to get behind us for protections. But what happens when she no longer needs that protection or we just think she doesn’t? Watching them move-out and begin their own adult life is scary. It’s like sending them outside to play hoping that they’re safe. But in this case, they’re not coming back. They now will have to protect kids of their own.
All we can do is sit back and pray that we made the right choices in raising them. Do we really have to let go? Yes and no. We can still be there but just enough to let them know, we have they back but far enough for them to understand, it’s their time now.
Mark has been covering Sports and Entertainment for the past six years. His work has been featured on Bleacher Report, ESPN, Fox Sports, Teen Vogue, and many other websites.
