Daddy’s Girl and other tales of gender bias

There’s just something about girls and their fathers. At five months, baby girl is unabashedly biased. She’s a daddy’s girl through and through, just like mama was.

I know exactly what it’s like because I was a daddy’s girl too. I loved hanging out with my dad, whether it was running errands, having a latte or secretly eating a double whopper just before dinner and then pretending to pick at our nutritious, home-cooked food after that. You need mommies when you’re sick and miserable, but daddies, daddies are *special*. Maybe it’s the feeling of security that fathers provide, like they’re going to make everything ok.

Tru lights up when daddy’s around but not excessively so. Kirsten, however, goes into her “where’s my daddy” mode all day from the time daddy goes to work, right up to the point when daddy comes home. She’ll be all like nonchalant all day with momma around. I mean, once in a while, she will oblige me with a patronizing smile if I try real hard to make her laugh, like “erm, ok mom, you can take the chopsticks out of your nostrils now.” When she learns how to talk, I won’t be surprised if she asks me what time daddy is coming home about 200 times a day.

And the moment she hears daddy’s voice go “hey baby girl, I’m home!”, she breaks out into the widest grin of her life. Her eyes dart to the door and she starts to chuckle and gurgle, like she’s trying to get daddy’s attention. So far, no one else but daddy has succeeded in making her giggle. It’s like he doesn’t even try and she’s giggling like well, a little girl. And the look of sheer delight when she’s in daddy’s arms, that’s priceless. NOT FAIR. How come I don’t get that kind of reception when I step out huh?

But I don’t really mind though, because I’m reluctantly going to admit that daddies are cooler. They teach you how to do all the badass stuff like making a fire with stones and killing zombies with a sledgehammer. Moms just make you eat your vegetables and clean your room.

So I’m cool with having a daddy’s girl. As long as we get to have our special girly time doing manicures. sticking rollers in our hair and checking out hot guys.