"I can babysit," my dad said.

April stopped reading the paper and looked up at me. I glanced from her to my mom who was standing in front of the open refrigerator, milk in hand, staring at the two of us. We all looked back at dad.

"You'd have to change her diaper" April said.

Dad guffawed and looked at mom.

See, my dad doesn't do diapers. I ask him all the time (just for fun) if he'll change Alleke's diaper, and he never does it. He just laughs and shakes his head.

My dad is a good grandpa. He spends lots of time with his grandchildren, and he loves them.

But my dad is not a mechanic. When a little one spits up or smells funny or begins to cry, dad hands baby off to grandma for a tune up.

Until today, that is.

"I can change a diaper," Dad said, shrugging his shoulders.

I smiled.

I smiled because he was willing to try, and I smiled because he didn't know how.

My wife works as a hairdresser and so therefore we have very crazy eating habits, She might go all day without eating because she has been busy, and then she is straight into dinner then off to bed – especially as she has at least 2 late nights per week and they can have her finishing at up to 8.30pm/9pm.

Now on the days that Renee isn’t around I will cook for the household – including Pyper and she is relatively easy because it’s the same food different day, just a variation on the selection as such.

So this week because we are such budding chefs, I have been personally sick of the same boring food, and we wanted something a little different and healthy. Something that could be prepared in a smallish amount of time with minimal amount of ingredients. Well we managed to come up with a new system, and one that didn’t include chilli mince in either tortillas or taco shells. We seem to have a hundred weight watchers menu books or healthy menu books lying around gathering dust so we got them out and did what most smart people would do and read them looking for good recipes of which 95% of them are it was fantastic to see.

Last night we were watching TV before bed, and April had Alleke on her lap. The show we were watching seemed relatively harmless until one point when the main character's skin melted off his face, and he turned into a talking meatball. I grimaced, and April put her hand over Alleke's eyes.

When the scene changed, and April thought it was safe for Alleke to watch again, she took her hand away.

Alleke must have thought the show was still too scary because she took April's hand, put it back over her eyes, and held it there.

Posted with permission from Spain Dad

Even before our children were born Al and I had always wanted to be equal as parents. We were lucky that both of us were home for the first few months of our first daughter's life. Even though I was very clear in my mind that I wanted both of us to be involved and equal - and we knew that I would have to go back to work and he would stay home with her - I found I had to bite my tongue when he did things differently from what I thought was the "right" way.

A number of years ago, my four-year-old daughter was starting to say our grace before dinner. “Daddy, fold your hands like this!” she shrieked. Everyone at the table was startled by the intensity of her outburst.

But if we consider the world from the standpoint of a four-year-old girl, it may make perfect sense. She wakes up in the morning and isn’t always sure if she’s going to school or not. She’s not quite sure of which clothes she should wear, and she’s not always sure who she’ll be spending time with each day. She’s not all that comfortable with the language yet, so it’s not always easy to get her point across.

When your child falls, as Annalee did last night, there is a tendency to question your parenting skills. Because parents enjoy more power over their children than over anyone else in their lives, it's easy to go overboard with this questioning, as though it is God questioning God during some hideous phase of the Inquisition. "What were you thinking when you invented gravity? Didn't you foresee this child's terrible fall?" "What were you thinking when you invented concrete? Not a very good idea, in the end, was it?"

Have you realized the most important thing in a young girl’s life? It is her FATHER!

A father carves the way for their daughter’s lives, and when a father strengthens and rebuilds his bond with his daughter, it shapes her life and his for the better. But how ever much a father loves his daughter if he doesn’t realize what a girl child usually expects of him, his relationship would be strained.

Girls seek for a sense of protection and safety from their fathers. They feel that fathers should be available when needed. The real value of a father in a girl’s life is that it is from fathers that girls learn about males in the world;

Another great movie that focuses on a father and his daughter is a movie called “Dreamer Inspired by a true story”.

It’s about a man trying to save a promising race horse that has broken its leg, and get it back up to scratch so that he can breed from it. His bad luck continues though as the horse turns out to be infertile and the farm he lives on is being foreclosed on.

What is nice about this story is that the father is willing to risk everything to make sure he can still be a role model for his little girl, even though he doesn’t feel like it and feels as if his own father has let him down somewhat!

If you are looking for a feel good movie to sit down and watch with the family or your little girl keeps asking for a horse then watch this movie its great!

- Scott

“One time my kids wanted to surprise me with a good breakfast in bed on Father's Day. They put a cot in the kitchen.”

While fatherhood is a serious business, you cannot deny the fun and craziness involved in it for both the dad and the kids. A father holds a magnificent place on this planet.

A father ocean catfish is a true example of a devoted father. He carries the eggs of his young is his mouth until they are ready to be born, which may take up to several weeks. During that time, he cannot eat a thing!

Penguins are another good example; Father penguins keep on their feet in arctic temperatures for sixty days or more to protect his eggs. He hides them on top of his feet, hiding them with feathered flap. Like the catfish, he cannot eat for the duration of his guard of the eggs.

I have moved away from my family for work. I could have stayed put and worked in a factory but my wife has sacrificed a lot for me to study over four years to work in the television industry. My wife also wants to work in tv/film. Towards the end of my study an opportunity to adopt a beautiful girl came and we decided to go along with the adoption. Where I used to live had no work opportunities. I would gladly leave my job to be with my daughter but my wife wants me to get her into the industry as well OR ELSE (she reckons). Either way I would have less time with my daughter.

My question is how can I build and maintain a strong father-daughter relationship from a long distance. I am 4 hours drive away and I go home every chance I get (depending on finances). It is bad enough that she may feel rejected from her birth parents let alone her adopted father living away from her (she is two years old).

Am I over-reacting?

-Tom