SNEAK PEAK OF MY BOOK: Influential Dad, Empowered Daughter
WHY I WROTE THIS BOOK
Parenting is extremely challenging. There are thousands of blogs, podcasts, books, webinars, instagram posts, facebook groups, and workshops on how to elevate your parenting style and improve your parenting skills. There are hundreds of other parenting books out there that provide you examples of how to show up for your kids or step by step must do checklists that you must accomplish to be an A+ parent. And, while many of these parenting experts are incredibly educated, knowledgeable, data-driven, and highly convincing, the world is still full of parenting-guilt, exhaustion, burnout, overcommitting, perfectionism, and imposter syndrome amongst how we parent. I see it everyday. Parents hustling from one sporting event to another, and trying their absolute best to do all of the things for their kids, even neglecting their own self-care to ensure their kids are always put first. But the overwhelm and expectations that you have on yourself as a Dad are not sustainable. It is impossible to do all of the things and be all of the things.
My promise to you is that this book is different.
I will go ahead and give it to you straight: this book is not about you figuring how to be a Pinterest Perfect Dad. This book is a guide to the lifelong commitment of how you want to show up as a Dad, and how you want to be a continuous teacher, coach, and mentor in your daughter’s life.
I am betting that no one handed you over a roadmap that said “HERE IS HOW YOU RAISE A CONFIDENT BADASS DAUGHTER” when your daughter entered this world, so please allow this book to be in your arsenal of your parenting tips, tricks, and tools on how to elevate your parenting game. Once you identify who you want to be as a Dad and how you want to show up for your daughter, this entire experience of parenting your ambitious daughter is much more enjoyable than we all give ourselves credit for.
While every single Dad who reads this book will craft their own unique parenting techniques, philosophies, core values, and traditions, there are a few major conversations, especially as it relates to her career, that she cannot afford to miss out on with you. Throughout this book, I will teach you how to prepare to have challenging or controversial conversations with her, how to support her in a way that feels good and aligned with your core values, and most importantly, this book is here to help you feel safe, confident, and inspired to be a great Dad.
3 RULES TO FATHERING YOUR AMBITIOUS DAUGHTER:
Dad, here a few ground rules as we get deeper into curating who you want to be as a Father to your daughter.
Rule #1: There is no “right” or “perfect” way to make a positive impact on your daughter’s life. Society places so much pressure on Dads to: make a living, pay the bills, be present for every ballet recital and soccer game, to eat organic & local food, to stay fit, to be tough, to protect their family, to minimize social media usage, to travel the world, to enroll your kids in the best of the best schools, and the list goes on and on of what you SHOULD be doing to create a positive life. And, while I agree that making it to all of your child’s sports games and birthday parties is a major part of being a present parent, it is not everything. As a developing and eager Father, you get to create your own identity as a dad, and how you would like to show up as a Dad. You get to define success as a Dad, and we will work on that together in this book.
Rule #2: Drop all expectations of who (or what) you want your daughter to be. If you are heading into Fatherhood with specific expectations of who and when your daughter should marry, what profession your daughter should go into, which sports she should or should not play, what school she should attend, where your daughter should live, what food your daughter should or should not be eating… major misalignments between your ambitious daughter and you will occur. This is an absolute guarantee.
Trust me on this one. You will save yourself some points on your blood pressure score and you might save yourself a stroke in the long run. Any preconceived notions about who your daughter should become as an adult or even as a child needs to be dropped right now. Beginning today, start with a clean slate of your expectations of her. Your job is not to tell her who she should be. Your job is to support the person she wants to become.
Rule #3: You are enough. Dad, you are enough. You are all she needs in a Father. All of the skills required to thrive in your father-daughter relationship is available to you. Everything you need is learnable and is ready for you to take on. Working towards being a better Dad does not mean that you aren't a great Dad to begin with. If you decide to challenge yourself and get uncomfortable with learning new tools, you are going above and beyond - your daughter needs this! Maybe she won’t see it now, but your legacy will be with her forever. You are her Dad for a reason, not just by default or by chance. You were put in this position for a reason. You need to believe that you are capable of creating an impact because you are. We all are. You got this!
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STAY TUNED… FATHER’S DAY 202!
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