It always sounds so awkward.

It reeks of insecurity, confused emotions, and denial.

Dad: “If anyone touches my [girl’s childhood nickname], I’ll need good reason to not [savage act of violence]”

What? Why?

Daughter: “My dad would never let me [have a normal relationship]. He has to meet [haze, intimidate] any guy I date. My dates are always so scared —and they should be.”

What? Why?

Why is anger and fear a part of meeting new people, people whom daughters already approve of enough to introduce and present them to their family?

Any tension here is a clear sign of a need for a father and a daughter to talk, to be real, to be honest. The father needs to address his fears, recognize the independent and capable woman his daughter has become, and release her from control. She can travel, she can explore — other places and people and responsibilities. She needs guidance when she asks for it genuinely, in all the ways children know to ask. She needs real support and real love in the freedom to live.

Respect and trust— for family, for children becoming adults, for the unknown future — depends on the power of lessons and the wisdom inherited and taught, not forced in fear.