There’s nothing quite like a daughter’s relationship with her father. Many people would agree that parenting plays an essential role in a child’s mental health, social skills, ability to succeed, school performance, and more. Everyone may not be lucky enough to have two parents or one parent available for their development. Still, those who are owe a lot of who they become as adults to their parents’ influence.

Fathers play a crucial role in their daughter’s development. Depending on the nature of their relationship, they can significantly impact who their daughter becomes. In the Pure Flix film, Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters, we meet Steve, a man who loves his three daughters but realizes he doesn’t know them as well as he could.

Being a parent is one of God’s most significant callings, but it can also be overwhelming. Steve wants to hold on to his three little girls, but eventually, he realizes they aren’t little girls anymore, and he has to let them walk the path God laid out for them.

Dr. Meg Meeker, the author of the book that inspired the movie, says she wrote the book because she noticed a difference in girls with involved fathers versus girls without them. Dr. Meeker said, “As a pediatrician, I was seeing a lot of girls in my practice having issues, and I thought the girls who had involved, engaged dads, not perfect dads, got over these issues a lot faster than girls who didn’t.”

Dr. Meeker also added that she noticed that dads were being criticized in our culture and said that dads are desperately needed, but we’re pulling them down. She said, “So I wrote the book to really show a lot of the research about the positive effects of having a dad at home and also to tell some stories about how daughters do with dads.”

When asked why the daughter-father relationship is so unique, Dr. Meeker said that dads have a special place in their daughters’ hearts and vice versa. She noted that dads don’t want to let go of their daughters because they’re protective and worry about what will happen to them, focusing on who they’ll date or marry. However, with sons, fathers want to teach them how to be a man and forge their path in the world.

While Dr. Meeker wasn’t involved in the filmmaking process, she says she got to read the screenplay, which she liked, and she enjoyed the film. As for what she wants audiences to gain from the film, Dr. Meeker wants dads to engage with their daughters and try to build a relationship with them instead of saying they don’t understand or know them. Many dads feel they aren’t needed or wanted, so she wants them to know they’re loved and wanted.

Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters shows why the father-daughter relationship is so important and special. Dads may feel like they’re not needed, and daughters cling to their mothers, but every daughter needs a father to help them grow and become the best person they can be. Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters is currently streaming on Pure Flix. To learn more about Dr. Meeker, click here.