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| 2000 Photo |
Published in a February 2012 issue of the Madison County Journal. To Subscribe to the Journal visit www.mainstreetnews.com
By Dallas Bordon
Dallasb32@yahoo.com
If there is a person who has the perfect formula for raising girls, please pass that information to us dads. There are many books and sites online that can give offer advice on raising girls, but it’s the “on the job training” that will teach the most.
My daughter was age two when I became a single dad. Suddenly my life changed and I felt like it was the first day of college except this time my major was “Raising Girls 101.” Needless to say, I think I graduated but now I’m all of a sudden in the graduate program of that same field of study. Gone are the daycare years and fighting with car seats, stepping on Barbie doll feet while walking through the house in the dark or tapping Barbie’s leg back on after the dog chewed it off. Not to go without mentioning the endless hours of watching that purple thing named Barney on the television. The years of day care and elementary school have also come and gone and now it’s middle school. Those years that many of my friends experienced as parents and have warned me about are almost over.
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| Eight Grade Dance |
There is no text book or motivational dad speeches that can teach us dad’s the correct way to raise a girl. Each day we learn lessons by trial and error. It’s much like school in many ways because there is a lot to learn in a short amount of time. But on the flip side its lessons I enjoy. For my daughter who is an eighth grader, these middle school years haven’t been as bad as my friends have warned me about. The main things I have noticed in this stage of her life are the growing fads. We all know about them because those were so important to us when we were teens although they are much different now. I can pull out my middle school yearbooks and as we look back at the past, it’s more of a comic book to her because of the styles that have changed so much. She gets a good laugh at the hair styles, lack of makeup, and clothing styles of those middle school girl years.
Their lives change so fast and even though she’s just preparing to make the transition from middle school to high school I can remember dropping her off at daycare just like it was yesterday. The early days of elementary school when we walked our kids to class hugged them bye and told them “I love you” are gone and replaced by a quick drop off at the middle school curb, no hug and a quiet whisper of “I love you.” Don’t dare do those things now because it is embarrassing them? I do enjoy the split moment of opportunity I have when the car door opens and she begins to get out and I voice the “I love you” a little louder. Her expression and eye contact aren't quite as warm as I remember it in the day care years.
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| 2013 in Abbeville SC |
Over these years I can see how my daughter has grown into a young lady. As those times have breezed by I still wonder am I doing the textbook things that I am supposed to do. But then again as I watch her enjoy these early stages of life knowing that she’s happy, healthy and knows that she loved, that’s rewarding enough for me.
Dallas Bordon is a Sports Writer for The Madison County Journal
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| Easter 2012 |
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| Vacation 2012 |
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| Vacation 2013 |
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| At "Spill The Beans" in Greenville SC in 2010 |
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| Colbert Elementary |
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| Middle School Tennis |
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| High School Volleyball |
