I can’t imagine that many of you dads have seen Tim Burton’s 2010 version of Alice in Wonderland. But then again, maybe you have! 

One of the reasons I love this film is because of the way it parallels the developmental process of a young girl who is struggling to figure out her place in her own life story.

At first glance this may seem like a story that doesn’t have much relevance to the father-daughter relationship. But if you take a second look, I believe there’s a powerful lesson for you, Dad, if you’d like another insight for understanding your ever-growing daughter.

The movie begins with our heroine, a teenage Alice Kingsleigh, who inadvertently tumbles down a rabbit hole (for a second time in her life), only to find herself trapped inside a strange land that has turned her world upside down and backwards (all references to adolescent stages of maturity are merely coincidental!). Alice has no memory of having ever been there before, a position that is supported by the quirky Mad Hatter (played by Johnny Depp) who tells her that she couldn’t possibly be “the real Alice” he had met years earlier because the last time she had been there she was “much more…muchier.” 

Then he hits a home run insult by adding, “you’ve lost your “muchness.”

When I first heard that line, it wrapped itself instantly around my core, even as an adult. I actually started crying as those words reverberated inside me as if in full range stereo. There was something about them that immediately struck a cord in me as a woman. I too wondered if I had lost my muchness somewhere along the way. I just hadn’t ever worded it quite like that, which is why it took my breath away.

 For me, just like for Alice, the word “much” hasn’t always been a positive word. The first memory I have stored in the invisible file cabinet inside my brain is tucked in a folder with the word “much” on it.

The entry has to do with four powerful words that were stated year after year by my elementary teachers on my report cards:  

“ Michelle talks too much.”

(cue visual memories of standing in the school hallway as punishment for my inability to keep my verbal comments to myself!)

Digging further into my mental file cabinet, the second item in the “much” folder is that of the innumerable comments I heard repeatedly from a guy I dated for a couple of years in my late 20’s. He seemed to thrive on telling me his version of what he thought was “too much” about me. According to him I apparently used the words “cute” and “awesome” too much, laughed too much, weighed too much, and on it went (hard to believe that I dated him for two years, which was clearly way too long!). 

Basically it was the same theme (as in childhood), different day.

Here’s where I can relate to Alice: Somewhere along the way I began to doubt that I was enough: good enough, strong enough, thin enough, this enough, that enough. As a result, I got lost in my own developmental process and was drawn to a guy who reinforced the lies, a guy who seemed to ally with the insecure part of me that was looking for someone outside of myself to validate and approve of me. 

Alice, at the end of the movie, accepts the fact that she has to confront something that terrifies her. As she steps forward, sword in hand, she shouts her heroic battle cry and declares, “lost my muchness, have I?”

Though afraid, she boldly faces her fear as she fights and then slays the dreaded Jabberwochy. She uncovers a newfound courage by going through the battle to discover her destiny, which ends the Red Queen’s evil reign of terror. We watch as Alice beautifully transforms from an insecure, tentative girl into a fierce warrior woman who powerfully kicks timidity to the curb.

But the deeper truth is that she faced her own dragon and in the process, found herself.

• Has your daughter discovered and found her muchness? (that part of her that is passionate and scared… all at the same time; that part of her that wears you out sometimes, but is tied to her calling and gifting and makes her uniquely spectacular)

• Have you encouraged her to find her muchness by taking steps outside of her comfort zone while you provide support?

• Is there a battle she needs to face that holds the key to her embracing her muchness?

Dad, foster your daughter’s muchness. Or if she’s lost it, help her find it again.

• Make sure to tell her that she can do whatever she believes is possible. 

• Tell her that she has to face her fears in order to be fierce. 

• Let her know that you will support her in any way you can (financially by funding her passions, physically with your presence, spiritually through prayer, and emotionally by listening to what she learns along the way even when interspersed with emotional upheavals) while expressing that there’s no where you’d rather be than in her cheering section because you know she has it in her to be and do more than she believes is possible. Even if she’s afraid.

Your daughter needs you to believe in her, especially when she’s unsure about how to fully believe in herself. 

And always remember that her muchness will change the world.