Being a girl dad is awesome. There was a point in my life where I thought I HAD to have a boy for my life to be complete. Four girls later, I look back and think how wrong I really was.
Kid 1 — The Original
So, what’s it really like being a girl dad? Well, let’s start with Natalie, she’s nine. From the very beginning she was my buddy. The busyness of our life didn’t change much when we added Nat to our life. So my wife and I just took her everywhere. We were a trio. Nat dabbled in some typical girly stuff, but me being the “fun dad’, took her to baseball games, basketball games, the park, played in creeks and rough-housed. She was my little tomboy. So, nine years later — I have this awesome, beautiful, tough little girl that still to this day loves to do late night trips with me to White Castles and catch late night movies. Sometimes even on a school night — gasp! Being the first of the four, she tends to be the one who thinks she can question us and push back a bit. So it’s a constant balance of giving her freedom and taking it back. However, she is the leader of our four and is our third arm. Many days I wonder if she makes a better parent than I do. All kidding aside, she makes my life as a dad so much easier and I love to reward her for it.
Kid 2 — The Remix
Four years later, here comes Ellie. She was our gun-slingin’, fit-throwin’, never-sleep-at-night bundle of “joy”. She was born on May 9th, I deployed to Afghanistan on May 28th. For the better part of a year I didn’t get to be with her. So when I came back, I had some ground to make up. Let me just say, this child made me question my sanity on MANY occasions. There was nothing that could please this little girl. But as time went on, she began to calm down and the sweet side to her rotten side began to show. She’s five now, and she is still BY FAR the hardest to get out of bed in the morning. So we have a little routine, where I just play music as loud as I can in her room until she can’t bare it anymore and I just deal with the dark side of her for about 15 minutes. Do what ya gotta do, right? However, she is probably the sweetest of all the girls. Which is saying a lot, considering they’re all pretty sweet. But no doubt, she is the most concerned when someone gets hurt or when someone is crying. She cares a bit too much about what people think of her, and she is very shy. She just has a place in my heart that I can’t really put a finger on. She loves dresses and is our typical ‘girly-girl’. But still loves to adventure and get rough with Nat (even if it’s in a dress).
Kids 3 & 4 — The Encore and Mic-Drop
Which brings us to our dynamic-duo. The twins. They’re three years-old and they are our yin and yang. The twins are our rainbow babies that came as a result of a loss of our boy in the first trimester. You can read more about that here. We never in a MILLION years thought we would ever be parents of four kids. Much less four girls. Yet here we are, and the twins are the capstone to our complete little family. Back to the yin and yang. Harper is technically the oldest, and she is the brains. She most of the time is trying to convince Brooklyn that something is a bad idea. Brooke is our braun and usually gets her way with Harper. They usually get into trouble together and most of the time I look at Harper and I know she was she was probably just conned into doing it. However, when they get into trouble they both act very differently. Harper goes with the “love” approach. She immediately runs to you and hugs you in a hope to lessen the punishment. Brooke on the other hand prefers the “tough love” approach. She usually stomps her feet, yells and walks off. So she spends a lot of time in time out. But together, they complete our life. They both have the best little giggles and they love wrestling with me.
So seriously, what’s it like be the dad of four girls? I wouldn’t change it for the world. Yeah, they have their girly tendencies but I love the balance of being a dad that takes them on adventures around the park, in the woods and camping. They bring a sweet side to me that I never knew I needed. My ponytail game is on point, I can brush hair like it’s my job and must admit, I’m becoming pretty talented at picking out clothes. Don’t confirm that with my wife…please. All in all, being a dad of four girls is like being a dad to any number of kids. Yeah, life can be more hectic trying to get them to school, sports, church, activities…but the reward is proportional. You never run out of love in a house full of girls and you’ll always have a White Castle buddy if your wife turns you down. Which happens a lot. I love being a girl dad.
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