CNN entertainment contributor Shanon Cook authored an article that pegged my creepy-meter: “Daughter’s in love, Dad feels jilted”
As the song goes: “Summer lovin’, had me a blast.”
But for dads with daughters who are falling in love for the first time, it might be anything but a blast. Unless that KABOOM! is the sound of Dad’s heart exploding in sadness.
Summer can take a harrowing turn when family vacations and young romance intersect. Suddenly daddy’s little girl who a year ago wanted to play tennis with you has now completely forgotten you exist. No, she’s too busy texting, curling her lashes and scouring the beach for Todd the surfer dude.
“In a certain way dads really do feel jilted, bereft even,” says neuropsychiatrist Dr. Louann Brizendine. “They almost feel like they’ve been left at the altar. Often they think, ‘what did I do wrong? How do I get her back?’ They’d had this really special, close relationship between dad and daughter then all of a sudden she takes the off-ramp from that relationship.”
“Left at the Altar?!” “How do I get her back?!” Oh. My. God.
So wrong on so many levels. But I’m old school. Parents aren’t supposed to be friends to their children. They’re supposed to be parents preparing them for life.