What Daddy's Little Girl wants, Daddy's Little Girl gets

One of the long-accepted tenets of parenting is that fathers will do virtually anything their daughters ask them to do.

This is absolutely true.

Every daughter is, in one way or another, Daddy's Little Girl. Or at least that's how Daddy sees it. So usually when they want something, and especially when they use that deadly "Oh Daddy You're So Wonderful and I Love You" voice, we cave in.

We can't help it, it's how we're wired.

At least two of my daughters understand this dynamic, and I think the third is catching onto it.

The other day, one of my daughters whom I will only identify as "Chloe" asked me to go outside to her (locked) car and retrieve her baritone horn and her music for her so she could practice. It was cold and snowy, and it was clear that "Chloe" was perfectly capable of putting on her shoes and doing this herself.

"But," she said, "it's so cold outside and you're so big and strong, Daddy, and I just..." OK FINE I'LL DO IT JUST STOP LAYING ON THE DAUGHTER GUILT.

The right parenting move here, of course, would have been to make her do it herself, since the world doesn't cater to our whims and Daddy won't be around to do every little thing for you.

But I was in no way capable of resisting her pleas. It's like girls emanate Waves of Persuasion and we just bend to their will. Even when we know we shouldn't.

So I put on my shoes, traipsed outside in single-digit temperatures, unlocked her car, grabbed the large brass instrument and sheet music and brought it all back in for "Chloe," who thanked me and headed upstairs to practice.

As a rule, moms are not subject to the reverse effect with their sons. No matter the gender of the child asking, they're able to say "no" to any and all unreasonable requests. This is why kids, being essentially evil, know it's best to go to Dad when they really want something and expect resistance from Mom.

We don't raise them to be evil, of course, but it's in their nature. And some of us never grow out of it.

What it comes down to is that fathers, no matter how much they see themselves as stern disciplinarians, generally regard their daughters as precious little flowers. This leads to many things, including the bizarre popularity of daddy-daughter songs as sung by male country music artists (that link will take you to a post on this topic I wrote a couple of years ago).

It also leads to dads blubbering on the dance floor at their little girls' weddings when it's time for the Father-Daughter Dance.

If these young women were even smarter and more evil than they already are, they would ask their daddies for $10,000 right in the middle of this dance. They would be rich in no time.

People sure do love their daddy-daughter songs...

I find this amazing:

The second-most-read post in the history of this blog is, for reasons I cannot fathom, one titled "Street Walking," which I wrote last year after I walked 17 miles to work. It has received 837 page views, meaning that particular page has been viewed 837 separate times.

OK, fine.

What, then, is the most-read post in the history of this blog? That would be one headlined "Five Songs That Make Dads of Daughters Start Blubbering," which appeared here a little over a year ago on April 6, 2012. That was one where I listed five of the top daddy-daughter songs that are sure to bring on the tears. Fun, a little sentimental, but certainly nothing special.

Or at least I thought so.

How many page views has that daddy-daughter post received? In a little more than a year, that one post has been viewed 9,319 times. Yes, 9,319 (or 11 times more frequently than the second-most-read post).

I cannot begin to explain this. Or I suppose I can. But it would be a total guess.

For one thing, the daddy-daughter bond is a sacred one. Dads love their sons, no doubt, but their love for their daughters is, while no more intense than what they feel for their boys, different. It's just different.

It's a clinging, protective bond, and our society encourages it. It expects dads to hate their daughters' boyfriends. It expects them to put their little princesses on a pedestal. It expects them always to look on their daughters as "Daddy's Little Girl."

I'm not sure if this is all good or bad. But I do know that people are interested in getting ideas for daddy-daughter songs, and I can only assume it's to play at weddings or other special family events. I mean, really, why else do you need a daddy-daughter song?

Other than to start crying randomly as you're driving along and, say, Bob Carlisle's "Butterfly Kisses" comes on the radio. Or at least that's what I've heard. From a friend.

Go to Google and search for any of the following phrases, and you'll see this little blog appear on the first page of results for all of them (or at least the last time I checked it did):

• "daddy daughter songs"
• "songs about daughters"
• "songs about dads and daughters"
• "songs about fathers and daughters"
• "songs about daughters and dads"
• "songs about daughters growing up"
• "songs for dads from daughters"
• "songs from daughters to fathers"
• "songs for dads and daughters"

Like many webmasters and bloggers, I use Google's popular Analytics tool to keep track of visitors to "They Still Call Me Daddy." It tells me how long you all spend on the blog, what you read most, where you live, what operating systems you're using, what links or websites brought you here, etc.

I don't even bother checking the section of Analytics that tells me which search engine keywords bring the most traffic to my blog. Because it's always (always) those phrases above.

I would like to think that sometime in the past year, a wedding has taken place somewhere in the world that featured one of the five songs from my list. And that the bride and groom secretly thank me for making their special day perfect with the ideal Father-Daughter Dance song.

I will, in the interest of making their joy complete, accept a cash donation in return for this service. It's the least I can do.