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Raising Daughters Today – Round Table
Join us on the Legacy Podcast as we are joined by Jonny McKane and Evan Reid. Two normal fathers who love their daughters well. I was ministered to by these men as we recorded. Listening back, the coals of my heart are stoked afresh. Stephen and I were both taken by their wisdom. We hope you enjoy it.
It’s the third and final round table of Season Two:
In this conversation we talk about:
- The joys of being a father to a daughter
- How we can exasperate them
- Hopes and fears as your daughter grows from girl to woman
- How a father-daughter relationship changes over time
- Journeying with the emotions of your daughter
- Not being scared to speak
- Cherishing her now while preparing her for the future
Reflection from Stephen Mullan
We can sometimes fight against the reality that our daughters will one day become women and will leave home. As Andy says near the end of this episode: “I don’t want my daughter to change!”
Who relates? I know I want my one and half year old daughter to forever stay small, cute and slightly squidgy!
At the heart of this feeling is a mix of love and joy. Yet, what I learned in this conversation was that the loving, joyful relationship between a father and his daughter is foundational and formative in her journey to womanhood.
Of course, there is much we need to think about as we raise our girls (and we cover a lot in this episode), but never underestimate the place of joy.
To have a father who delights in knowing and loving them is one of the greatest blessings any girl can have.
Two Songs for fathers with daughters
- Be kind to yourself – by Andrew Peterson
A song from a father to a teenage daughter.
I challenge any father to watch this video and have dry eyes at the end.
V2
”I know it’s hard to hear it when the anger in your spirit is pointed like an arrow to your chest.
When the voices in your mind are anything but kind, and you can’t believe your father knows best.
I love you just the way that you are, I love the way He made your precious heart.
Be kind to yourself” - Banks – By NEEDTOBREATHE
A song about caring without controlling.
Chorus:
”I want to hold you close, but never hold you back.
Like the banks of a river”
*****
We’re taking suggestions for season 3 – What topics do you think we need to cover to help us fathers disciple our children well? send me an email – andy@legacyfathers.org
Andy Lamberton is the director of Legacy. He goes to the same church his parents, grandparents, great and great great-grandparents went to. Married to Debbie, they are raising their four children in Donegal with ice-pops for dessert most days. Author of Letters for Exiles: Faithful Living in a Faithless World.
Stephen Mullan directs the work of Dreamscheme Northern Ireland, a youth work charity that provides support and opportunities to young people growing up in housing estates. He also writes on the subject of youth via his newsletter Rethinking Youth. Stephen is married to Sharon and has two young children.
