Joe Kelly

This is Children's Book Week--a perfect time to get and read a book with your daughter.

Established in 1919, Children's Book Week claims to be the longest-running literacy initiative in the country. 

It took a few weeks for me to catch up with this story, but sportswriter Lindsey Adler captures some real dads' voices as they try to explain one example of female objectification to their daughters and son. Check out her piece:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/lindseyadler/this-is-how-modern-dads-explain-nfl-cheerleaders-to-their-ki

The fabulous Mike Adamick, author of the "Dads Book of Awesome Projects," also writes an edgy blog that tackles some serious dads & Daughters issues.

Earlier this month, Mike posted his take on the debate over gender portrayals in the media. As a long-time advocate on this issue (e.g., with the organization that became the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media), I appreciated his thoughts on gender equity in movies:

Over the past few days, I've blogged about the importance of Dad-Daughter communication and trust in the process of developing a healthy sense of sexuality in preteen and teen girls.

Many people think that mothers are (and should be) the exclusive source of "sex talks" for daughters.

That mindset is shortsighted on several levels; the truth is that fathers have valuable perspectives to offer, even when it comes to the birds and the bees.

As much as we fathers sometimes shudder to think of our little girl ever having sex with someone, we must understand that she needs a healthy sense of sexuality in order to be a healthy and happy woman.

It doesn’t help to fall into the over-protection trap and lead our daughters to see sexuality as inherently dangerous, dishonest or forbidden.