Being A Dad With A Daughter Is Becoming Tougher Every Day

It's a girl!

I was so happy to hear those words. When my daughter was born, the nurse was taking all of her vitals, and she said, "Congratulations, Dad, you have a baby girl!"  She then took my little girl's foot and covered it in ink to take a footprint.  That footprint was then mashed on the back of my hand, and the nurse said, "Get used to it, Dad, this isn't the last time she's going to walk on you."

I had no idea how right she was.  My daughter's name is Madelynn, and I've been wrapped around her finger ever since she was born.  She's incredibly smart and funny.  She does the right thing 99 percent of the time when other kids might not.  I'm proud to say that she honestly is one of the best kids I know, and I love her with all my heart.

That's why it's so hard to have an argument with her.  It tears me apart!

We fought over her brushing her hair this morning.  I just want her to be cared for.  But I don't think it came across that way.  Now I've dropped her off to school, and I want to be sure she knows that I love her.

I've always believed the best parents have a perfect combination of love and discipline.  Kids need to know both.  That's why it's hard.  When you leave them and the scale feels like you've tipped it too far to the discipline side, you want to balance it out with love.

I know that to a lot of parents this feels like something rather trivial.  It probably is.  But if there's one thing that's incredibly important to me, it's my relationship with my family.  I know that one day I'll have a bigger fish to fry, so I want to know that when I get there, my daughter and I have a pretty good foundation to work from.