Creepy and bad news (in a pop culture way) for fathers who spoil their daughters, here comes Daddy's Girl. The Chris R. Notarile film features Zoe Sloane, who in character describes herself: "I guess you could say I'm really shy at times ... and kinda a total daddy's girl.
Like she says, "nothing good can ever come from a bad attitude."
When is it necessary to answer the question of whether a father sees the same thing in his daddy's girl that others see?
Particularly when money (lots of money, specifically lott and lots of money) outsiders have a difficult time taking successful girls seriously when her father is a many of means and moolah. It certainly doesn't help that very often the daughter chooses to launch herself within a very safe haven created by daddy.
But may fathers (and others) argue that it is part of a dad's ongoing responsibility to build and maintain a comfortable place for his daughter to live &mash; not just to give the land and help build the house, but even to contribute with the occasional Roomba and a hug, for example, metaphorically at least.
The real question is what happens when the money (or the daddy) disappears. It's another test that fathers probably never learn whether they have passed or failed. He has created daddy's girl, but she alone (with whatever she takes with her on the next step) is responsible for the woman she'll become when dad isn't there like he once was.
... and everything nice? Everything? As in always nice? Not the girls I know. Not that it ultimately matters. But daughters like me – nursing wounds for too long – must learn the grace of forgiveness. Not because our fathers asked it of us. But because our childhood is long since over, and it’s time to grow up. ... one day we realize we like who we’ve become, and our fathers were a large part of getting us here. And occasionally, we can even glimpse the best of our fathers in ourselves. So I stand today, before his oak coffin, to offer a humble nod of thanks. And, quietly, ask his forgiveness that I couldn’t do better.
Thing 1 battles with attitude and begrudging (even though she thinks of it as martyr-like stoic) acceptance while Thing 2 draws from her arsenal both fury and sulking withdrawal when it is Go Time. But it will probably work out in the long run.
After all, a Holyoke (Mass.) student has come to grips with having her father also act as her basketball coach. As her disciplinarian coach. As her, he-makes-me-so-mad and it-is-to-unfair coach. But is it as a loving daughter or player trying to suck up to the coach for more playing time when she writes, "[our strong bond] makes me know he did everything for all the right reasons."?
Fortunately, that epiphany came in time. Australian Minister for Sport and Youth Kate Ellis acting the hellion as a child, didn't feel her father's connection until she was losing at age 15 and saw him spend his last months focused on what would be best for the family he was leaving behind. Now her country's youngest federal minister, her life as a hellion (drugs, sneaking out, various rebellions) was turned to its present course by her father's example. "I think it's about how you honour somebody's memory," she says. "...I like to take the values that I learnt from him and put them into play in my everyday life. That's what I think he would probably ask of me."
The wisdom that did not come in time belongs to (among others) Canadian writer Maggie Marwah who fought and fought and fought her father, even up to his last breaths. And then came the learning:
Gender matters. It doesn't (wo)mandate results between father and child. But it complicates a father's thinking — he can't just assume he knows his child because OBVIOUSLY boys aren't girls. In general the end results are the same. Sometimes dads and daughters achieve great things together, sometimes they have unknown influences on each other and, very occasionally, they just don't mesh.
In the first category are Bill and Sara McGahan. He's approaching 50 and she's can't legally drive, but, having conquered Mount Kilimanjaro together, they have jointly set their sights on Mount Ranier. "I love my dad," said Sara. "He's really funny and I was glad I took the climb with him." Six or seven others are still to come.
Not that you can blame gender complication, but it is necessary to remember that not all good influences bring positive results. Consider, alas again, Dwayne Johnson (who says he doesn't want to be that cartoon character, The Rock, anymore.) Plugging his latest movie [see: "Rock of Ages"] he explains the effect of his daughter on him, "I was very selfish. I’d only take care of me. It wasn’t until my daughter was born that I realised – and this happens to a lot of us when we have children – what being selfless is all about.” The result is, apparently, going to be bad movies — sort of Schwarzeneggering, moving from action hero to comedic (?) movie fish out of water and then to wherever that might lead a very changed father.
The Yang to Johnson's Yin is former Puteaux (France) mayor Charles Ceccaldi-Raynaud. The 82-year-old is in a contentious election contest with the current mayor, a 58-year-old who accuses him of being senile, mendacious, jealous and misguided. He refers to her, his daughter Joëlle Ceccaldi-Raynaud, of stupidity, wild spending and "psychotic" behaviour. Oh, and they're both under investigation for corruption.
It's not fair to the artists, but that doesn't mean there is much for fathers to consider when comparing the just released "Daddy's Girl" by Eddie P. Briley with rapper Eminem's "Mockingbird."
While the subjects are the same — the sacrifices of daughters for a [famous] dad, the takes are very different. There is love in both, but consider the fantasy of the country crooner
with the rawness of the rapper.
Obviously, one is more polished and more experienced than the other, but both visions of fatherhood are scary. Less scary, but apparently equally scarring is the more benign parenting that turns one's daughter into the "accursed" (?) daddy's girl.
No surprise to any dad, it's a dangerous world. Danger arises serendipitously and you may have to rely on good karma
A Grand Rapids, Mich., pops passed out in the pool. His 6-year-old daughter followed the instructions of her 9-year-old sister, who had just taken a swimmer safety course, and the two saved their dad from drowning.
From the other end of the expected danger spectrum comes the "thank God, but who knows why" story of Ashley Force's escape. Moments after father John Force put himself back into contention for the NHRA season-ending playoffs, daughter Ashley slammed into the wall. She survived at least in part thanks to added safety equipment Force insisted on after the fatal accident for a team member earlier in the year. But the TV Stars' family drama was over. The engine of father John's funny car blew up in the finals. The quarter-million dollar car was totaled, but both daughter and dad were both safe.
