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When They Need You Most
Dads and Daughters By Carma Haley Shoemaker
As the primary male role model in a girl's life, fathers can and will influence their daughters in many profound ways. Fathers will help their daughters develop aspects of self-image and what they come to expect from men, society and the world.
But fathers may not realize the importance of their relationship with their daughter(s) or may shy away from too close involvement because of inexperience or preexisting conditioning. As girls move into adolescence fathers may find it easier to distance themselves from their daughter's awkward and/or dynamic changes, resulting in difficult communication. This can often make parenting issues more complicated. However, this is also the time when daughters most need their fathers to be an even greater presence in their lives.
- 6.6 percent of American children begin their sex lives before age 13; more than 60 percent begin by the time they reach 12th grade (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2001).
- Among high school students surveyed in 2001, 9.2 percent of 12th graders, 6.2 percent of 10th graders and 3.5 percent of eighth graders said that they had used MDMA (Ecstasy) in the past year (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2001).
- 86 percent of teenage girls are, or think they should be, dieting (Fat Talk, Harvard University Press, 2000).
- Anxiety disorders affect an estimated 13 percent of children and adolescents during any given six-month period. The disorders are often not recognized, and most who have them do not receive treatment (National Institutes of Mental Health, 2001).
- 26 percent of seventh through 12th graders have seen, carried or used a weapon against someone, with one in four students feeling personally endangered by violence at school (American Journal of Public Health, 2000).
