A good father.

My daughter has not only learnt to speak fluent ‘daddy’ now also she now playfully threatens me with ‘yetu beka?!’  I know that a year is a relatively constant time period, but the last year has seemed like a short one for me – shorter than my PG years. Of course the year I’m talking about starts and ends in mid April!

Mitha holding my hand when she was about a month old.

I have always wanted a daughter and I’m grateful that I have one now. More importantly and presently I want to become a good father to her. And how does one become a good father? I really don’t know… but I’m sure I have an idea.

All around me I have seen a lot of good fathers, during my childhood, during college days, my work place, in movies and books, in my patients, in my daily life… all around me. Good fathers are a common place.

Once when I was having a tender coconut drink near my home I saw a father and a nearly eight year old daughter waiting for their drinks. The father just showed something on his mobile to the girl and the kid just looked up at him, instantly they exchanged smiles and as he patted her head the girl hugged his leg. I don’t know what the kid saw in the mobile but I knew he was a good father. I wanted to become a father like him.

‘Atticus Finch’ a fictional character from the novel ‘To Kill A Mocking Bird’ by Harper Lee is the best father I have read or seen in the movies. Again, a simple lawyer working for justice, fighting racism, braving guns and spitting hoodlums! What for does he do all this? Because he is a father who cares, a father who needs to come back home for dinner and look them in the eye when he answers his kids questions! A great novel for fathers, especially the ones who have daughters.

Like everybody’s fathers my father was and is the greatest dad in the world. He never pushed us kids into anything. He gave us independence and capability to think and let us do things by ourselves; he only got in when we wanted him. He didn’t mind us when we hurt him but never had he himself hurt us. He was responsible but not overbearing. I want to become a father like him, a good and sensible father. A simple father who has learnt along with the times changing himself and his kids.

I want my kid to be herself and nothing more. I want her to be my daughter… always!

Happy birthday to you my dear.