Dad, You Can Help Your Daughter Find - And Use - Her Voice
Michelle Watson
I’ve heard it said that communication is 7% words, 38% tone of voice, and 55% body language.
If you do the math, this means that 93% of communication is nonverbal. Isn’t that mind-boggling?!
This little statistic serves as a reminder that we often say more by what never comes out of our mouth.
Think back to a time when your daughter tried to tell you something when you weren’t fully dialed in. Then (in your estimation) she reacted in a way that seemed entirely inappropriate to the situation. And there you were, completely dumbfounded because you had no idea how she leapt from a zero to ten in intensity over something seemingly insignificant. At least to you.
Two words: nonverbal communication.
In his book Dads and Daughters, Joe Kelly talks about the importance of a dad tuning in to his daughter’s voice:
Girls tend to be a riddle to fathers. Like any mystery, the relationship with our daughter can be frightening, exciting, entertaining, baffling, enlightening, or leave us completely in the dark; sometimes all at once. If we want to unravel this mystery, we have to pay attention and listen, even in the most ordinary moments. Why? Because a girl’s voice may be the most valuable and most threatened resource she has.
That last line not only resonates with me, but it wrecks me. When I was younger, I was that girl. I didn’t have a voice and didn’t know how to stand confidently and use it. And I don’t want your daughter to ever say the same.
Her voice is the conduit for her heart, her spirit, her mind. And when she speaks bold and clearly—literally and metaphorically—she is much safer and surer.
Dads, I can’t underscore enough how intensely vital it is that you help nurture these qualities in your daughter.
My friend Emily is a wife and mother of two boys and one daughter. While choosing to parent differently than she was raised, she tells of the pain she felt growing up because her dad “was always too busy for her.” She talks about him being around physically but not emotionally or mentally. He was a pastor and was doing “God’s work,” and she knew she couldn’t compete with that.
Emily recalls sheepishly knocking on the door of his office at the age of seven and being afraid that she was a bother to him. His responses usually confirmed her worst fears. Not only has she carried around debilitating fears like an invisible knapsack ever since, but her childhood insecurities have continued to intersect with every relationship throughout her life. She and her dad have come far in repairing their relationship. Emily is working on healing and letting go. She’s finding her voice. It’s beautiful.
Be a dad who helps your daughter find and use her voice. The more she practices using it with you, the better able she will be to use it out in the world.