Being a dad to a little girl is the coolest.

Lily is 3 and a half (which blows my mind), and it has been so fun to see her personality develop and her little heart grow and change over the past year.

We are in the princess stage right now. She has 3-4 princess dresses that she cycles through in the course of a week, and if you call her Lily when she’s in character, she will be quick to correct you with “no, I’m a princess…”

Lately though, something’s changed… I’ve become a prince. Prince Eric to be exact.

Starting around a week ago, Lily told me about my new identity and what to do, i.e. pull her “out of the water” when she’s Ariel, hold her hand and walk around the house, make and eat imaginary picnic lunches, etc.

This role play and sudden burst of affection towards me made me curious about what was going on with her  heart. And recently I put my finger on it.

She’s practicing.

What do I mean?

Practicing. Practicing to “flirt” in a sense – to be around a boy and capture his attention… Practicing to be somebody’s girl.

And I’m the somebody right now. And as strange as that thought may sound, I’m grateful…

The truth is that someday she won’t want me to be Prince Eric and sing her songs and hold her hand, but right now she does. And while she does, I get to show her that she is worth every bit of my attention…

She’s worth it.

Sam Crabtree records that James Dobson, when asked to sum up his findings from a six year campaign on the topic of sexual purity in one sentence, said this line.

“It comes down to a quest for daddy’s arms.”

While it is this season, I want her to know that those arms are sure. That they are present. And that she has my heart and my attention. Though feeble and failing, I hope and pray she absorbs that truth from me as her dad.

Are you a father to a young daughter? In what ways have you seen this to be true?