Wisdom from the past

One piece of wisdom that I received many moons ago, before I married my beloved, was at a dinner with a man who worked in ministry. He talked about his passion for instructing men in specific on what it means to be a husband and father. One thing in particular that he said that resonated with me, and this is well before I could even dream of my little jewel, was that the primary driving force in the development of a little boy's masculinity is his father. This of course makes sense. The father teaches the son what it means to be strong, be a protector, have principles and convictions, etc.

But the next thing he said surprised me. He then said that the driving force in the development of a little girl's femininity is...also her father. He said this is because it is the father who teaches the daughter how she should expect to be treated by other men, and it resonates in a different way than when the mother teaches it, because only the father's words carry the weight of being the protector and the provider. Only the father can instruct the daughter as to what standard God has placed on him as for how a man is to relate to his beloved, and how she should expect the same standard from the men in her life.