As the father of a beautiful ten year-old girl, I find it hard to find things in common with her. I see how she acts with her mother, and watch how they can bond over a “chick flick”, or how they can bond over make-up and hair styles, clothes and fashion in general, etc.
Me? I will be the first to admit it ladies. I don’t understand women. Or, little pre-teen girls for that matter. But, I do my best to listen and be loving to both my wife and daughter, and try to relate when I can…which is not as much as I seem to be able to.
I tried to get my little girl involved in comic books and superheroes. I mean, we did name her after Wonder Woman (and Captain Kathryn Janeway of Start Trek: Voyager, depending on who you ask). She read a Tiny Titans graphic novel by DC Comics, which was about the Teen Titans as kids, and a couple of Marvel Star Comics graphic novels, which were kids comics made in the 70s and 80s and were generic kid comics that either had the main character in space, or doing crazy hijinks with other kids their age; you know, all around “fun” comics. I think she read the Tiny Titans comic, and liked it, but I don’t know if she read all the way through the Star Comics books (she kinda has a tendency to not finish certain books. Reminds me of my lack of finishing projects.)
Next, I tried to get her into manga, especially since I started reading manga. I was sick of mainstream publishers, because I feel like their sellouts (I mean, really, DC and Marvel consistently mess with their universes to the point that it is just laughable). So, we tried to find something that she would enjoy. What we found was that it was hard to find a manga specifically made for a little girl, because the fanbase for manga was teen to adults (insert hentai here). The closest thing we found was Sailor Moon, which if you have gone to a comic convention or a comic book shop looking for a Sailor Moon manga, IT IS EXTREMELY HARD TO FIND.
So, I struck out again.
She always goes shopping with her mother, and spends so much time with her. And, I get lonely easily, so I keep trying desperately to find ways to spend time with her. We used to play games together, but now that her friends call her on her phone and video chat with her, and she is very crafty and makes jewelry and clay figurines, we don’t hang out as much.
But, there is one thing that I have found that my daughter and I can relate to — we both have very similar tastes in music. Sure, she likes Rihanna and Nicki Minaj, and I like John Coltrane and Pink Floyd. I know there are probably other singers or musicians that we disagree on, but that is not the point. She and I both like Bruno Mars, Katy Perry, Ariana Grande, and The Weeknd, and I’ve introduced her to Bjork, Otis Redding, Tom Jones, Prince, Young MC, and Salt N’ Pepa.
One day, in the future, my daughter will be making a playlist, whether it be for a party, or for jogging or working out, or for studying, or even at her wedding, and she will remember this time that we spent together, listening and singing along, and she will call me up, or save a dance for me, and remember how much daddy loves her.
To the moon and back. Times infinity.
I love you, sweetie.