My Daughter’s Dating Life: A Dad’s Guide to Staying Calm

The days when your biggest fear was whether your daughter has lost her favorite teddy bear or is afraid to eat the veggies on her plate, but now as she’s stepping ahead into the grown-up world, your reactions would be obvious. 

If your daughter has started dating, this may seem like an overnight transformation of your little girl from a cute toddler to a young, mature lady discussing date night plans. In fact, even the idea of your daughter holding someone’s hand may push your urge to dust off the old shotgun. These mixed reactions, or panic and resentment, are normal for any dad if he senses any assault on his paternal duty. 

But before your gut feeling kicks in hard, it’s important to take a pause and rethink about your stereotypical overprotective dad role. 

The reality is—it’s not the time to create a cliche movie scene; rather, sit with your daughter and talk about how positive relationships look like, what respectful behavior is, and how to sense any so-called red flags in their date.

Top 5 Tips To Deal With Your Daughter’s Dating Life

From meeting your daughter’s date with a smile to trusting her decisions, read this article to find out some of the best tips on how you can stay calm when it comes to dealing with your girl’s dating life.

Recall Your Own Dating Days

It’s probably time to remind yourself back into your own dating days. So the last time you were young and in love—those butterflies, the awkwardness, and the excitement—remember the days? This is what your daughter might be experiencing too. Sometimes, taking instances from your own life helps you understand your kids better and show empathy to them. Remembering your own days can even give you memories about how clueless you were back then. The fact is—every kid learns from his own experience. Set back and let them take their time to build their own understanding, mistakes, and lessons.

Meet The Date

While meeting your daughter’s date can be as overwhelming for you as for them, this ritual is indeed essential. Don’t be a stereotypical angry dad; rather, roll into your inner comedian character and practice your best impression as soon as the doorbell rings. This approach is great when it comes to breaking the ice and letting the date know that it isn’t any interrogation.

Set Basic Rules With Some Twist

Basic rules are indeed necessary. Though those rules should not be straight out of the 1950s manual. Just the basic ones are enough! For example, you can set the ‘curfew at 9 pm’ rule so that your daughter knows you’re serious about the rules while also showing that you completely trust her decisions. You can even ask for a simple emoji check in where every thumbs up emoji in an hour shows that she’s okay. It’s important to be protective but not stuck in the stone age.

Subtle Spying

When it comes to your kids, ensuring they’re safe is every parent’s duty. Of course, you don’t need to be a helicopter parent. For this, you want to practice a bit of subtle spying. You may send a simple text, “How’s everything?” or “I’ve tracked your location; I think you’re nearby.” The approach is to trust your daughter but not stay completely out of the loop.

Post-Date Brief

Right after the date, instead of starting your investigation, try to discuss in a fun way. You may ask, “So agent, how was your mission?” or “did you face any twists?” This way, your daughter will feel more comfortable sharing her date experience with you openly. The ultimate key is to maintain the right balance between authority and approachability.

Takeaway

You are just not your daughter’s dad but also her guide, supporter, and superhero too. When it comes to your daughter’s dating life, it’s important to trust her decisions and stay calm. With some effective tips and the right mindset, you can be there for her during those overwhelming dating years.