It is important for a girl to have a good relationship and a special bond with her father. It can impact her personality, and determine her future relationships, behaviour, and success.
By Dr Sameer S Rao
Millennials are people who reached their adulthood and became parents in the 21st century. Millennial dads had a very different kind of relationship with their parents — specifically their fathers. In their time, there were a lot of things that were different; fathers were considered to be the head of the family, and it was normal to be scared of them. But now, fathers spend more time with their kids than their fathers did with them.
It has been seen more commonly that father-daughter relationships are more enhanced and more special compared to a father-son relationship. Fathers and sons do, of course, have a relationship, but fathers and daughters have a special bond.
One reason is that fathers tend to be more protective about their daughters. It is important for a girl to have a good relationship and a special bond with her father. It can impact her personality, and determine her future relationships, behaviour, and success.
This special bond between a father and a daughter goes a long way:
* Daughters who have hands-on dads during the developing stages of their lives are known to be in better health than others.
* Teens who have strong relationships with their fathers are less likely to be a wreck.
* It has been recorded that daughters who have a strong bond with their fathers have a lower chance of having anxiety and higher odds of having more self-worth and self-esteem.
* Daughters who bond well with their fathers can deal with stress better.
* The way a father communicates, contributes to the self-image of a child.
* The image of a father the girl holds is of a man who is loving and caring. This may impact the future relationships that she has.
* Abusive behaviour of a father during the initial stages of a girl’s life can negatively impact the way she looks at relationships in the future.
* Spending quality time with your father as a child and as an adult may impact your emotional state for the better.
* The absence of such a relationship has been seen as a reason for eating disorders among girls.
* Scholars have found an intriguing link between the way daughters deal with stress as adults and the kind of relationships they have had with their dads during childhood.
* Daughters, whose fathers have been actively engaged throughout childhood in promoting their academic or athletic achievements, encouraging their self-reliance and assertiveness, are more likely to graduate from college and enter a higher paying, demanding job, which are traditionally held by men.
One must never forget the role of a mother. There is no way that the role of one parent is more important than the other. Both have equal roles to play, and one cannot be compared or weighed against the other.
(The writer is a consultant neonatologist and paediatrician, Motherhood Hospitals, Banashankari, Bengaluru)
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