I am not a wise man.  I do have a little experience when it comes to raising children.  Just over six years worth, as a matter-of-fact.  But I was still surprised and humbled to get a note from a friend who was asking for a little comfort on his new journey.  It seems that he and his wife are expecting their first child, which just so happens to be a girl.  I have no idea why he would consult me on such a serious issue, but I can’t fault him for choosing his friends poorly.  At any rate, I don’t know if my insight will be valuable to him, but perhaps it will provide some help to you, weary internet person that has happened to stumble upon my blog and just happens to need some insight on raising a young girl.

From A Friend:

As the Father of two girls tell me, how hard is it? It’s obvious to me that you love your daughters completely. I have no doubt that I will, too. Hell, I already do. But. But I don’t react well to feelings, emotions, etc. I’m a CHB, for crying out loud. That’s Cold Heartless Bastard, by the way. I dunno, I guess I just need some affirmation from a peer that I can do this, you know? That I’m not going to completely damage my daughter irreparably just by being me.

My Sage Advice:

Oh, the emotions. Yeah, there’s not much you can do with that. Butterfly is a crier. If I try to sit down and talk with her calmly about something so that she doesn’t get upset, she still bursts into tears. I don’t know if there is a way to handle them properly. I usually take the “give up and let Kelley handle it” approach.

From what I can tell in my general observations, girls are a lot easier at the start. Boys are wild, full of energy, and always bouncing off the walls. Girls tend to be a lot calmer, relaxed, and able to sit down and play quietly. The problem starts when the hormones and the emotions start to kick-in. I have solicited a lot of advice for the upcoming years and from what I can piece together, the key is to just always be there and keep loving them. Which is going to be tough because I had decided to move into the garage once puberty hit.

I think you’ll be a wonderful father. Having a girl will give your wife somebody to doll-up, but that doesn’t mean you can’t still have a buddy for weekend projects. Butterfly and Ladybug both accompany me to Lowes and love to “help” when I’m working on a project. (Helpful hint: always have some extra boards with holes, screws, bolts, and screwdrivers around when you’re working. That way they have something to mess around with instead of knocking holes in the sheet rock.)

Oh, and you’ll have to learn how to dress Barbies. Which is kind of cool because it’s permission to look at little naked ladies. WIN!

So there you have it.  Deep insight from a loving father.  I thought about writing a book about all this stuff so that everyone could learn from the patience and the devotion that I have for my family but those annoying little kids won’t leave me alone long enough to think straight.  So if you need advice, feel free to submit your questions.  I will answer them with all of the honesty and dignity that I can muster.