Advice for Girl-Dads

[Fargo Husker]

Nothing wrong with any activity for kids that has them safely being active or using their brain. Anything my son wants to do that doesn’t involve watching tv is pretty much always fine by me. He may end up having no interest in sports but as long as he’s interested in something other than video games it’ll be just fine.

I played football and baseball in high school but my best friends were all band/music kids and they’re awesome. They’re also usually the types who stay out of real trouble.

💯💯💯💯💯

 

[Baron Winnebago]

I have daughters who are 3, 2, and 1. The two oldest were asking to watch basketball yesterday and I had no problem doing it. Even better they were both saying go big red while watching.

I’ve never pretended to care about Nebraska woman’s volleyball but I’d be lying if watching what they did in front of 90000 or what Caitlin Clark is doing gets me a little emotional knowing that something like that is possible for them.

 

[Adolph Coors]

Yeah, honestly most kids aren’t ready for tee ball until they’re around 5. I might’ve been the one who said it was too early, can’t remember.

My son is three and I just have him work on hitting a ball off a tee in the backyard whenever he’s willing, which usually only lasts about 5-10 swings before he wants to jump on the trampoline or go on the swings. Hopefully at some point this summer he’ll be willing to try to start playing catch and we can work on that coordination, because it’s the most difficult.

i was pretty amazed that with almost no practice, my 2 year old daughter could hit off the tee and my 4 year old daughter could hit pitches pretty consistently.

 

[Boondock_St_Sker]

my two daughters are 25 and 21 now. Both were competitive dancers and cheerleaders in HS. I always had sports on during the week, weekends. I've told this story before but bear with me, my wife did not like sports other than anything Huskers. When our oldest started college (UNL) her and I went to a football 101 camp that Frost and his staff put on. She went with me b/c none of my friends wanted to go (in hindsight, good call). She asked Frost a question at the end of the day about interning for the Nutrition Dept. He told her to have her resume ready b/c he was hiring a new guy (Dave Ellis). She emailed Joni in the front office, told her about the interaction with Frost at the camp and Joni put her in touch with the dude that was the football nutrition guy who in turn put her in touch with Dave.

She became Dave's first intern and did that gig for 3 years. She learned all of the corches names from every sport and was able to have conversations with them every time they interacted. She has since graduated with her masters degree and passed her Registered Dietician boards and is currently interviewing for positions with D1 universities.

My other daughter got an internship with Corch Williams and the WBB team. She has worked with them for 3+ years and will graduate in August.

All this to say...I totally agree with OP. Get your daughters involved in something. I was able to parlay dance and cheer into full blown sports crazies. They love ALL sports now and I can have meaningful conversations about ANY sport and I LOVE IT!! the oldest now is VERY into Formula 1 and I'm here for it!!

GIRL DADS UNITE!!

 

[lee_carvallo_12]

I know there’s a ton of you on here and was just doing some reflecting while drinking my morning coffee. I’m specifically talking to dads of girls ages 1-16.

First of all, this is going to sound like off-the-wall, ridiculous advice. If you’re a girl-dad, your knee jerk reaction is going to be to throw up. It’s going to take a few minutes to soak in. If you’re not a girl dad, just stop reading. You won’t understand. You’ll judge us girl-dads. You’ll think we’re giant pussies. Maybe you’re right but it’s part of the job.

Ok, so here’s the advice: take an interest in woman’s college basketball.

I know what you’re thinking. “Worst advice ever.”“Who the fuck is this guy?” “Bannable offense.” Hear me out.

I’m operating under a couple assumptions.

1. You love your daughter
2. You want the best for her
3. You love sports
4. You want her to play sports and love sports
5. You don’t want her to become a dancer and have to follow her to competitions all over the country
6. You absolutely under no circumstances want her to become a girls wrestler (fastest growing sport in the country, gross).

Now, with those assumptions in mind, the best thing you can do is swallow your pride and at least pretend to take an interest in woman’s college basketball.

My daughter (7) was going down the dark path of competitive dance and joined a singing group. There was even talk about letting her go to a girls wrestling camp. It was draining my wallet and making my wife act like a lunatic. And worst of all, I hate all of those things. Did I want 12 more years of that torture? No.

About a year ago during the Woman’s NCAA tourney, I had this hunch. I made the bold decision to dedicate myself to pretending to be interested in woman’s college basketball. Was it going to be easy? No. Was I going to be faking it a lot? Yes. Do I love my daughter enough to not let her get sucked into the abyss of competitive dance and girls wrestling? Of course.

So I did it. I became a fan. I showed her videos of Caitlin Clark. We sat down and watched her highlights. Same with Paige Buekers. We watched a ton of games this year. I took her to a lot of Nebraska games. We watched Nebraska take down Cockeye. We went to the state tournament. We watched YouTube videos. I can name more woman’s college basketball players this year the men’s. I’m ashamed to admit it but it was all part of a bigger plan.

And guess what happened. Without me ever pressuring her about participation in one sport versus another, she has done the following in the last year:

1. Decided she hates dance and is quitting after this year
2. Decided girls wrestling is for “weird girls”
3. Decided she LOVES basketball.
4. Decided she wants to become a college basketball player.
5. Has, without me doing much besides just playing in the driveway, become very good at basketball for her age.

No expensive camps. No elite travel teams. She plays Y ball with girls a full year older than her and dominates. At age 7, she plays pick up games with boys and girls ages 7-10 and is generally the best. Her PE teacher, unprompted told me she’s never seen a better 7 year old girl. And I’m not saying any of that to brag, I'm just saying that to tell you that the only thing that consistently creates great players in any sport is a will to succeed. It’s not camp, travel teams, etc. It’s simply the will to succeed and the love of the sport. And guess what? You’re not going to give your child a love for any sport by falling into the club sports culture. In fact, they will start to hate it.

Dads: you have the power to set the tone in your house. You don’t have to get sucked into the dance culture. You don’t have to let your daughter become a weird band kid. You don’t have to get sucked into club sports culture. You can mold your girl into a competitive athlete who loves the game in the sport of your choice by simply taking an interest.

So, watch some woman’s college basketball. It’s a small price to pay for a huge reward.

 

[HerbRedman]

I'd rather have the weird band kid

Yeah that's what I'm saying.

I have a 7 yr old daughter too. I'd rather she get into dance and music & the arts than she get into women's basketball. Women's basketball the best you can hope for is be top 5% in your field and you make $55k/yr in the WNBA and you're an unattractive lesbian.

If my daughter gets into dance/music she gets into cool groups of friends. Becomes a cheerleader etc. Has BFs, marries a successful husband later. Most importantly she avoids the lesbian WNBA path. The WNBA path MUST be avoided at all cost.

@kenyanfeline I'm doing the exact opposite of your advice LOL