When was the first time you really felt like a grown up (if ever)?
In many ways, I’ve been a grown-up since birth, and in many ways, I’m still growing up .I think that when you stop learning is when you become a grown-up. I don’t plan on stopping. There’s so much still to know, and I want to fill my damaged brain with as much as I can.
I share that experience, and the lifelong desire to learn. But I must say that because the circumstances of my childhood strictly prevented me from being a child I was dreadfully unprepared to be a suitable father to my only child. Only as she matured was I able to fully relate to her. I just didn’t understand childhood.
We all have our childhood disappointments, don’t we? We can only overcome them and hope we don’t pass them on. Sounds like your daughter got lucky because she’s seen and understood. Some people never get that.