A woman’s first introduction to a man is her father. He is often the first man to love her and women frequently seek significant others based on their father’s traits, for better or worse. Yet when it comes to dating, it is mostly uncommon for women to consult their dads. It took a while for Brittney Gwynn, a native Detroiter, to recognize how unique her bond was with her father.
“My relationship with my father is very much of friend and friend. He’s super vulnerable, super open, and obviously still a parent in the fact that he loves and cares about me,” said Gwynn.
“Talking to other friends from their experience, they said that their dads are mostly talking to them about the weather and work and not really getting into the nitty-gritty of things that we would walk about.”
The strength of those conversations inspired Gwynn to create a podcast with her father titled Girl Talk With Pops which digs into love, relationships, and life experiences. Now entering its second season, Gwynn has noticed the impact it has made over the past year.
“The response has been amazing. A lot of people are like: wow this is so refreshing, so relatable, so rare. I wish that I could talk to my dad like this. I wish I had these conversations with my dad when I was younger.”
Although women may have foregone it previously, Gwynn said Father’s Day is as good of a time as any to build a deeper connection.
“My advice for women that want a closer more meaningful relationship with their father is to be vulnerable and approach him with a specific ask with that context.”
She added, “I think men need to hear very direct statements…I’m not saying that’s always going to lead to the result they are looking for, but I think a father would appreciate knowing how his daughter feels about a situation and having her come to him two adults talking about adult things.”
Gwynn feels women must acknowledge the fact that they are not little girls anymore and talk to their dads openly to help the relationship grow. If perhaps you’re struggling for a conversation starter, Gwynn suggests referencing the podcast. The discussions have been equally beneficial for both Gwynn and her father.
“Our conversations for the both of us are pretty cathartic in the sense that we get to talk about something that either of us have felt in our lifetime and hear another person explain how they dealt with it…It comes with release. It comes with healing. It’s almost therapeutic which is something our listeners have called out before.”
The podcast has not only strengthened Gwynn’s paternal relationship, but also provided wisdom navigating romantic ones. She’s experienced her dad being more forthcoming with advice than her male friends.
“I have a guy here, who unlike my male friends, he doesn’t have a bro code. He’s willing to share everything versus my guy friends who are like no I can’t say that because you know bro code,” said Gwynn. “Guys will tell each other but won’t tell their sister or best friend who is a girl. There’s a code that exists for some reason.”
She is grateful for a fluid relationship with her pops and hopes other women see the logic in bonding with their dads.
“It seems like an obvious thing in retrospect…you get to see how empowering it is to have a father who is open and willing to share his life lessons with his daughter so that she doesn’t make the same mistakes.”
Girl Talk With Pops is available on all podcast platforms.
Check out their website https://www.girltalkwithpops.com/.
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