“10 Things No One Ever Told Me About Having A Daughter” By A Stay-At-Home Dad.

As many dads and daughters will tell you, there’s something special about a father/daughter connection. For a young girl, there’s no more important man in her life than her dad, and for a dad, his daughter will always be his special little girl. Stay-at-home dad Bret Spears– father of three children, including one little girl– knows all about this connection.

Bret is a writer for thedadissues.com where he “attempts to be candid and conversational about life.” In Bret’s own words: “If it’s real, we tell it.” In his following post, titled “10 Things No One Ever Told Me About Having A Daughter,” Bret confesses to the surprises that have come his way since becoming a father: from discovering his 3 year old might be a little boy crazy, to gaining a better understand of his wife, and more. His words are sometimes joyful, sometimes tear-jerking, always honest.

Check out Bret’s list below:

1. No one ever told me how soon she might pay attention to boys.

Like many of us, I pretty much bought into the social anthropology that sees boys as the romantic aggressors and girls as, at best, generously tolerant of their pursuits. This all changed one night at the gym when Mary Grace tugged at my arm and earnestly pronounced, “Daddy, do you see that boy over there? I like that boyâ€! As we sipped our smoothies in the gym café, she continually turned around to see where he was and watched him intently. At one point, he even came over to the table. His name was Harrison, and to her credit he was polite, cheerful, and well-spoken. He treated her kindly and with great respect. The one drawback to her first crush was that he was a 6’4, 19-year old with surfer good looks and the physique of a linebacker. He was the café worker. And she was three. Seriously.