Time to deal with the Pre-Teen Junk!
With my daughter approaching the anticipated 13 year old birthday, the build up to what will be the end of the “Daddy’s Little Girl” era is quickly coming to and end.
Yes, I have a twinge of sadness over this. We all want our kids to look up to us and remain children for as long as we can hold onto it. But quickly, my daughter is becoming and adolescent so I am in for a bumpy ride the next few years.
Let me give you a little background on my daughter. She’s an extremely bright kid and an academic phenom. She’s a bit serious but goofy at the same time. She’s a touch on the naiive side, which works for her Mom and I. We’ve tried to string out her innocence as much and as long as possible without sheltering her from the real world.
So far, she’s been a great kid with little reason to discipline her or get on her case at all.
But yesterday, the question came and my tiny world of self-deinal came to an end.
“Dad? When can I date,” she asked.
Gulp.
“When can you date? Why are you asking me that quesiton,” I fired back quickly.
“No reason, just wondering,” she wisely replied.
Crap. Does this mean she’s starting to think about boys? Is it the influence of girls in her class who have parents who have allowed them to grow up and be sucked into the sexualization of kids by our pop culture?
It’s probably a little of all of those things. No matter how well my wife and I have done bringing up my daughter to this point, she’s at the point were external pressures also weigh on her. She’s discovering that the answer to everything doesn’t just come from Mom and Dad.
As scary as that is, I know she’ll make good decisions. When she doesn’t, I know they won’t be crazy and that she’ll learn from them. I’d be lying though if I didn’t say I am a little anxious about the next few years. She has one more year before high school and then it will be more about Mom and Dad preparing her for her adult life and us having to let go of the child we had known for so long. To top it off, she’s our first child so the emotions are even more pronounced.
The fact this happened at the most stressful time of the year for me professionally doesn’t help either. Right now, my fragility and “edge” is at an all time high just due to the sheer amount of work and stuff going on.
All I know is that when I am ready to let her date, which should be when she’s 30, I will be cleaning my gun collection when the boy comes over.
As the Director of Social Media at tax giant H&R Block, Scott Gulbransen recently returned to the tax business after previously spending 1o years at rival Intuit working on the TurboTax & Quicken brands. He brings 16 years as a marketing communications professional, and 11 tax seasons, with him to H&R Block and was responsible for the launch of many key social initiatives at Intuit before leaving in 2010. A strategic thinker and business problem solver, Gulbransen has worked for some of the world’s top brands including TurboTax, Sony Online Entertainment, and Applebee’s.
In 2010, Gulbransen became the first Director of Social Media & Digital Content for Applebee’s, creating the first-ever social media strategy for the world’s largest casual dining chain. While at Applebee’s, Gulbransen lead a small but nimble team responsible for creating a robust and far-reaching social engagement channel for Applebee’s and its franchise community.
In addition to his professional accomplishments at the corporate level, Gulbransen is also a prolific blogger recently named as one of the Top 50 Daddy Bloggers in the US by Cision. Gulbransen was ranked #21.
As a member of the TurboTax communications and social media team for 10 years, Scott helped the TurboTax team launch and sustain the brand’s social media platform. He also drove and was responsible for the launch of TurboTax’s successful content strategy, including the launch of the TurboTax Blog. Recently, he launched one of the most significant social media campaigns in the brand’s history with the @TeamTurboTax Twitter project.
Gulbransen was instrumental in reinvigorating the Quicken brand almost entirely through the use of social media and, particularly, Twitter. By engaging with customers and influencers who talk about personal finance on Twitter, he and his team helped Quicken Online grow from just 200,000 users in October 2008 to over 1.4 Million in just 10 months. This led to a more focused look at the personal finance space for Intuit and, ultimately, the acquisition of Mint.com.
A former print journalist, who, after realizing his paychecks from the newspaper industry weren’t going to get much bigger, turned to the Dark Side – public relations. After working in both college athletics and inside mid-size agencies, he joined Intuit in 2000 and Applebee’s in 2010. He is a graduate of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) and is the married father of five kids.
Despite his busy personal and professional life, Scott is a digital native who never strays far from social networking. To hassle Scott, or to tell him how great you think he is (or not!), email him at scott@scottgulbransen.com, add him to your Circles on Google+, or ping him on Twitter at @sdgully. Scott also is an editor and writer for Technorati.com.
Like most things in life, the answer to that question is 42! BTW, I feel your pain – my daughter turned 14 last week. Although in my case I may have it easier. She has never worn make up, owns no jewelry, and the only clothes she cares about are English riding outfits. The only boy she cares about is her horse. If I can keep it this way for 4 more years that horse will have been worth the tens of thousands of dollars it will have cost me by then
Couldn't agree with you more Scotty…I have two girls and dread the infiltration of boys in our happy home. That first kid that knocks on the door is in for a rude awakening.
Great post Scott, makes me glad I have boys!
The proper answer to “Dad, when can I date” is “when I’m dead”.