Father's Day is still a few months away, but actor Boris Kodjoe recently made his fans’ hearts beat a bit faster and he wasn’t even flexing his pecs. The “Resident Evil” star took to his Instagram to post pics of him helping his daughter, Sophie, get ready for her first school dance.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BRwkNKwhz9S/?taken-by=boriskodjoe&hl=en
Kodjoe, who is married to actress Nicole Ari Parker and father to their two children, Sophie (12 ) and Nicolas (10) often shares pictures of his family’s adventures on his Instagram page.
The Kodjoe-Parkers have been giving us #RelationshipGoals since shooting those steamy scenes on the Soul Food television series. But Boris along with other actors like Kevin Hart, Lenny Kravitz and Jamie Foxx make it no secret that fatherhood is a big part of who they are as men and it’s refreshing to see a different side of these guys who are commonly seen as sex symbols.
Here are a few reminders of what makes the bond between fathers and daughters so special along with some pics of Boris and his beautiful daughter Sophie.
They show us that relationships between men and women can and should be about something other than sex.
Of course conversations about sex and puberty can be difficult between any parent and child, but especially between a father and his baby girl. I believe, however, that fathers are their daughters’ first teachers that relationships and affection shown between men and women doesn’t always have to be sexual. My father was one of my first homies. When I was seven we would cruise the Toys R Us aisles on his payday before my mother got off work. Now that he’s in his early sixties, him and my sister argue over which actor played the better "Dr. Who". My father taught me that conversations with the opposite sex don’t always have to include hormones and anatomy.
They show us how to allow ourselves to be catered to.
Hopefully I’m raising my daughter be a “strong, independent woman who don’t need a man”, but I must admit there’s a part of me that gives a man the side-eye when he walks off the elevator before me or doesn’t hold the door for me. Even when I’m clearly capable of helping, when I try to clean the snow off my car after a blizzard, my husband will tell me to take my behind in the house. When I still lived with my parents, my fifty-something-year-old father would do the same, even if he had to pull out the Icy, Hot for his back for the next few days. Fathers are a girl’s first reminder that being treasured, revered and cherished is a woman’s birthright.
They’re our first protectors.
Every winter at my parents’ house we’d get at least one determined mouse that would fight his way into our basement from the cold and then mistakenly decide to explore the whole house. Even into adulthood when my sister or I caught something little and grey scamper across the wall out of the corner of our eyes we’d abandon our rooms and run to my father. He’d then stake out areas where he suspected the critter might be and stalk him for days like he was a poacher in the Amazon until the culprit was caught. Fathers reassure us that they will fly in to save the day while teaching us by example how to get the job done ourselves.
They teach us beauty is about a lot more than what we look like.
My father was one of the first people who helped me discover that I even liked to write. He bought me colored pencils and marble notebooks and helped me brainstorm stories while we laid across the living room floor. And even as when I got to high school and suddenly was into boys more than books he would still share with me bestseller novels that he recently read that he thought I would like and encourage me to express my adolescent up’s and down’s through poetry. When you’re sixteen and think acceptance rises and falls on whether you choose a middle or side part, fathers remind us that we bring so much more to the table than our hair and makeup.
They teach us one bruise or a little bit of blood don’t stop the show.
There’s a brief second that my two-year-daughter realizes that belly-flopping onto the floor from the love seat probably wasn’t a good idea and looks to me and her father to gauge what happens next. Of course my instinct is to pick her up and banish the love seat to the trash bin for attempting to kill my baby. Her Dad, however will tell her to brush it off, and adjust her angle so she can land better next time. Dads show their daughters how to “man up” in the best way possible and we grow to be better, stronger, more resilient women in the future because of it.
They teach us that sometimes the best thing you can do for your child is simply show up.
At the beginning of 2017 it seemed my husband and I had one funeral after the other to attend, so when my father’s mother passed away exactly a month after my mother’s mother, I understood that he might not be able to make it because of his busy schedule. But ten minutes into the ceremony, he came in quietly and stood in the back, work clothes and all to pay his respect and support my family. He didn’t make a big show of it, he just wanted my family to see a friendly, familiar face among the sea of mourners (some who were serious and some who were putting on a show). Moments like that remind me that as a father, husband or any important male figure in a female’s life, one of the best things you can do for her is show up and reassure her that she isn’t alone.
What are some things you feel you father or the father-figure in your life taught you?
Images via Instagram
Toya Sharee is a Health Resource Specialist who has a passion for helping young women build their self-esteem and make well-informed choices about their sexual health. She also advocates for women’s reproductive rights and blogs about everything from beauty to love and relationships. Follow her on Twitter @TheTrueTSharee or visit her blog, Bullets and Blessings.The post Boris Kodjoe Reminds Us of the Beautiful Bond Between Fathers and Daughters appeared first on MadameNoire.