A little bit of Dad

“One egg is not hatched yet,” said the duck, “it will not break. But just look at all the others, are they not the prettiest little ducklings you ever saw? They are the image of their father, who is so unkind, he never comes to see.”

-          Hans Christian Andersen, The Ugly Duckling

Unlike in the animal kingdom, most dads love to watch their young ones grow. They do, sometimes, have one thing in common with their animal counterparts: they rarely fret over their young like the mothers do. And in the process, they impart to you their quiet strength.

I don’t remember my father running behind me with a bowl of food as a child, but he always knew when I was in a fussy mood and would implore my mother, “Just feed her and she’ll be done with it in no time.”

My mom probably knew this solution too, but what her tired brain couldn’t process, my father’s could almost always. While mom had a tough time understanding another pair of jeans, dad simply indulged. This calm understanding, or indulgence, just when you need it is something we all appreciate in our growing years and even beyond that.

I can’t speak for the men folk, but I can say something for the relationship a woman shares with her father – it may leave you wanting more out of it at times, but you can’t imagine it any other way either. Fathers bring in to your life strength and understanding.

We may not realise it, but we always carry a little bit of his personality in us too. We worry about turning into our anxious mothers but ignore that part of us that is so typically dad. So rest assured, ladies, if there is a part of you that constantly worries and frets over everything, there’s a huge piece of dad in there to keep you strong and resilient.