What Little Girls Do To Their Daddy's!

Having a child is a life changing experience. Having a girl as a Cosentino is just plain radical. My family has a strong tradition of having boys with the occasional girl sprinkled in. I just assumed our family was going to be more boy dominated and when I found out that my wife was pregnant with a girl I knew that this would shape and change my thinking in a strong and dynamic way. God has used my daughter Charis to help me see my family and the world around me differently. Here's how:

1) Protective - Having a girl makes you more protective as a father IN ALL AREAS that deal with abuse towards girls and women. I feel more passionately and pray more fervently for sexual slavery and for women's abuse issues. There are so many helpless and hopeless girls and women who so desperately need a father or a man to come to their rescue. If the world was full of father's who were protective of their daughters then the slavery and sex industry would come to a screeching halt!

2) Responsible - Having a girl makes me a more responsible man. I am charged with modelling for my daughter what a Godly husband and a father look like. In fact, her image and view of God will be shaped directly with how I treat, discipline, and care for her. 

3) Inquisitive - As a man I am in awe and wonderment at what a little girl's brain thinks and how it operates. I don't fully understand how a little girl can be jumping and rough housing around one minute and then modelling clothes and playing with her dolls the next. God has created women to act and respond in a unique and special way and I get to see this unfold and develop before me from the ground up with my daughter. 

4) Forward Thinking - I think more about the vision and future of our family having a daughter. While our society and culture has become more inclusive and open towards a woman's role in the workplace and home I need to be a visionary. In thinking about the future I will be able to see the roadblocks she will face down the road  to conform within the norms and pressures of society. I've been more apt to think about how God has wired her, what barriers she will face growing up, and how I can help her overcome those barriers!

Is there anything else? How has having a daughter changed you?!?