10 Promises I Make To Our Daughter

I promise to be the best me that I can be. I will continue to work on becoming a better person so that I can be a better role model for you. This means behaving in a way that matches my hopes and dreams for you. I want you to see and feel through my actions that I am doing my absolute best so that you are inspired to do your best and be the best person you can be. I will remain true to myself and accept who I am so that you can see me, with all my strengths and weaknesses. I will celebrate the wins and embrace the failures so that you can learn too. I will continue to be passionate about the things I love and be inspired by those around me so that I can be one of those people that inspire you. I will keep exploring this world and learning, building new experiences that we can all share together. I will remember the promises I have made to you and always keep them in my mind so that I can help you to become the truly remarkable individual who I know you are going to be. I promise to be the best version of me I can be so that you can become the best version of you.

I promise to share our world with you. Your dad and I have had some incredible experiences in this world and we both want to share them with you. We can not wait to be reading your bedtime stories of our favourite books, sitting down for movie time with our favourite films or dancing around the living room to our favourite songs. We can not wait to take you on days out or on holidays to show you some of our favourite places in the world, places that have played a part in our lives and that we hope will mean something to you one day. There are so many things that we love and we hope that you might enjoy some of them too but we also want to help you find the things you love so that we can experience them with you. It is a massive world out there and we can’t wait to explore it with you. Most importantly, since they all play such a major role in our world, we can not wait to introduce you to all the family and friends who have been so wonderful and supportive throughout our time together, friends and family who have been by our side while we eagerly await your arrival and for you to become the most wonderful part of our world. 

HOW TO FALL

I promise to teach you how to fall. Growing up there will be times when you fall down or you feel that you have failed. As a parent, it is my job to pick you up, dust you off and help you carry on. It is my job to help you learn from the falls and become stronger from them. Even when you feel those struggles I will remind you how much I believe in you and how you are both strong and capable. As you grow I might not always be there to pick you up and fix everything but I will teach you the skills and arm you with the knowledge to pick yourself up if or when that happens. 

HOW TO SOAR

I promise to teach you how to let your dreams guide you and provide you with all of the tools that will help you make those dreams a reality. As you grow up you will see how strongly I believe in the power of dreaming big (it’s the Disney in me) and the achievements you can make with the right hard work. By definition, to soar means more than just flying, it means to rise swiftly, to feel the wind beneath you as you reach higher than ever before. I will always be there to help you get there, giving you the right education and experiences so that you can soar as high as your heart desires.

BE YOUR PROTECTOR

I promise to be your ultimate protector and defender. As your Dad, it is not only my job as a parent but also my desire to shield you from harm without being too overprotective. Part of being a good protector also means showing you how to protect yourself too. I want you to embrace your curiosity and have an adventurous spirit when it comes to exploring the world around you but I’ll be there to make sure you stay safe. There will also be times when that harm might be in the form of other people’s behaviour. This means I must make sure that you learn to treat others with a respect and dignity that you can and should expect them to treat you with. I will teach you how to be your own protector, when to stand up for yourself and when to walk away. 

BE EMOTIONALLY AVAILABLE

I promise to be open and honest with my emotions so that you can learn that everyone goes through joy and heartbreak. I have a lot to teach you about emotions and how they are ALL so important to you and who you are as a person. I will share my own experiences with you, the very best and the very worst of times so that you never feel emotionally alone. I will share my laughter and share my tears so that you never have to worry about doing the same.

BE A GUIDE, NOT A DICTATOR

I promise to remember that my fears and my worries about you in this big wide world are mine and mine alone. They do not give me permission to control your entire life. It is my job to guide you in this world, to be there for you and to protect you. There will be times when I simply will not understand your actions and I will want to pull you in closer so that you do not get in trouble or worse. In those times I promise to give you the right discipline, I will be rooting for you to succeed and right your wrongs. If you need it, together we will find solutions, not punishments and criticism. I have so many hopes and dreams for you but I will remember that they are in my mind, not yours. I can not and will not force you down paths - like dictating which college courses to take or what your career should be - that you have no interest in. That isn’t to say I won’t push you, I will, but what I will be pushing for is for you to find your path, what you want in this world and to be the very best you.

BE PRESENT

I promise to be there whenever you need me to be and teach you what to do when I can’t be there. I will be doing my absolute best to be in the moment with you, so that I can enjoy watching you grow, teach you and so we can enjoy those moments together. Growing up, you will have so many questions about the world around you and I will make time to answer those questions and not brush them off or make fun of them. If I can’t answer those questions we will work together to find the answers. Life can get quite hectic but we will always make time for family time. Whether it is meal time or a day out, family time is our time to focus on one another. A time where we can talk, listen, laugh, play and have fun as a family. There will be times when maybe I can’t be right by your side so part of this promise is to give you confidence and make sure you are able to carry on, to know that I am with you, even when I’m not physically there. I will always be a constant presence in your life. 

BE THE PARENT

I promise to make sure I remember and make sure you know that I am your parent first and then your friend. It’s my responsibility as a parent to prepare you for the great big world out there. There will be times when you get it right and achieve incredible things and we can celebrate together. There will also be times when things will not work out and I will need to be stricter with my guidance. In those times I will also do my best to explain why I need to be stricter so that hopefully, you might understand. As much I want to be your best friend and give you the whole world to play with, I have to make sure that, in time, you’ll be ready to face the world so I truly have to be your Dad first and your friend second. 

UNCONDITIONAL LOVE

I promise to love you unconditionally. I will always make sure that you know that I love you, every day. There was a time I didn’t think I would ever be a Dad so I will never forget the journey it took to get us here. I feel so gifted that we will have you in our lives, and I do not accept my new title and responsibilities lightly. I am honoured to be your Dad. I can not promise that every day is going to be plain sailing and that there will not be challenges along the way. There will be days that we might not see eye to eye or might not understand where the other is coming from but underneath it all, I will always love you and I want that to be an unquestioned fact you can rely on for your whole life. I will tell you with my words and show you with my actions every single day, even when you think I’m just embarrassing you. Just remember I can’t switch off my love for you.