I come from a family of majority all men. Having a little girl has been a learning experience for me.
I am not the person to let my wife just do the task because she knows it, and I don't. I want to learn whatever that task is and be able to do it. It is fair to say I have had to learn a lot (the wiping technique was mind-blowing). The majority have been easy to understand and adapt to.
With one exception, ponytails.
If you see Celia, and her hair is perfect, and the ponytail or ponytails (my wife shows off her skills with two of these in her hair sometimes) are symmetrical, you know it wasn’t me.
If you see Celia and her ponytail is not symmetrical, the majority of it isn't even in the ponytail, and what is in the ponytail is falling out of its little plastic stretchy tie (I don’t know the actual name for this thing), then you know it was me who sent her out in the world with this embarrassment.
If you know me, I don’t like being unable to do something. If you have looked at my YouTube history, there are countless videos on perfecting this magic art I have watched.
I have learned how to twist the little plastic stretchy tie not once but twice and other techniques that seem to be simple.
Yet, every attempt for me is at least a 10-minute ordeal with a lot of internal cussing going on and the breaking of at least two of these little plastic stretchy ties because I want to make the loop too big and they snap. Celia gets bored and wonders if she will have any hair left after this torture.
Will I get it? Yes, one day. I will be a girl dad for the rest of my life, but she won’t need me for the rest of it. So I am going to figure out this ponytail technique sooner than later. I will keep trying and watching YouTube videos until I am a master (maybe not a master, but at least to be decent at it). But when that day comes and I have completed the task of two ponytails perfectly symmetrical with all of the hair in them, you better believe I am taking multiple pictures and immediately posting my achievements on Instagram for the world to see.
The stuff that girls do with their hair will forever befuddle me. How the hell do they do that towel-hat that encases their wet hair when they come out of the shower?! It’s like an evolutionary trait that’s passed down from female to female.
The ponytail is something I’ve wrestled with as well. I can get the first two loops in fine, but then my wife will do a third and sometimes even a fourth. My big clumsy paw-like hands just aren’t made for dexterous feats like this.
Even if we never truly master it though, the point is that as girl dads, we’re trying. That’s what our daughters will remember.