Once a year, I take my daughters out for a special father-daughter night. I suit up, they dress up, and we go to dinner at an upscale restaurant. In the days leading up to our night, I ask God to give me a blessing to give them, which looks differently every year.
I invited them to give their take on our annual father-daughter night so you could get their perspective, which follows, beginning with my oldest daughter, Rachel.
“Every year my dad takes me and my sisters out to a father daughter date. We get all dressed up and go out to a nice dinner. He would always spoil us and pick fine dining restaurants. Something special that he does is write down a verse along with a little message for each of us. During our meal he’ll hand out our verses and explain how they relate to us. We have been doing this every since I was a kid. As we grow older life typically gets busier and time seems to go faster. We forget to slow down and remember what is truly important. We forget to tell the people that we love how important they are to us and we just assume that they know. It can be easy to do. That’s one of the reasons why we pick one day out of the year to spend quality time with each other. These memories and notes are things that I will treasure forever.”
– Rachel
“My dad has been taking my sisters and me on father daughter dates for as long as I can remember. It is something we look forward to every year! We get all dressed up and he takes us to a nice restaurant. He always preps a blessing for us that he reads at dinner and every year it touches my heart. I remember years ago him telling us that he is trying to show us our worth in Christ and how a man should treat us. He set the standard early on what to look for in a Godly husband, and most importantly, our identity as a daughter of Christ. These dinners have made us all closer, and I treasure them deeply. Unfortunately, this isn’t common. I want to encourage all fathers to step out of your comfort zones and take your daughters on dates. It doesn’t have to be a big fancy thing, but letting them know their worth and they are loved by you and by God is so important. It is never too late to start new traditions.”
– Rebekah
“Every year my dad has taken me and my sisters to a formal dinner and a night of fun for as long as I can remember. We all get to dress up and eat at expensive restaurants that we normally wouldn’t. He always made sure to tell us how special we were and gave us either a Bible verse or Bible character that he related us to based on his readings or prayer at that. These yearly dinners always hold a special place in my heart because it not only shows how kind and fatherly my dad is but how he is showing us how kind and fatherly God’s love is. I would always tell my friends about it and whether they had a good relationship or a bad relationship with their dad they all held an admiration for it. The relationship we all have with him has been nurtured by these yearly events, and I am very thankful to have a father that sets the example of what a man, son, brother, and father should be.”
– Melanie
Well said, don’t you think?
