I have the best dad in the world
Dear Pastor,
My father did not hide anything from us girls when we were growing up. He used to talk to us about sex and our mother would say, ‘Why are you saying these things to the girls’? My father would reply, ‘If we don’t tell them, men are going to tell them and lead them astray’. My mother never taught us that one day we would experience menstruation.
I started menstruation when I was 12 and a half years old when I was in school. I was embarrassed, but my teacher, who is a female, took me to the bathroom and brought sanitary napkins for me. My uniform was soiled, and when I stood up, other children saw that something was wrong. The teacher sent me home and my mother said she had planned to tell me that I should expect my period.
My younger sister told my father that something was wrong with me and that the teacher sent me home. He asked my mother what was wrong and she said to him, ‘Your daughter turn big woman’. My father cursed and told her that she is not a good mother because she failed in her duty to advise me what to expect, and he knows girls who started to see their period even younger than that.
After I was finished having my period, my father told me how careful I will have to be, and he said these things before my mother and my two younger sisters. I am always grateful to my father for the way he always spoke to us. My mother, when she feels like cursing us, would say, ‘You old enough to take man, you waah fresh with me’?
My father will never say that to us.
When I was 15 years old, I had a boyfriend. My father saw us on the road talking. I was coming from school and, when I got home, my father asked me who was the boy and I told him his name. My father was not interested in his name. He said to me, ‘Alright, he is your friend, I can’t stop you from having a friend, but I don’t want him to touch you’. I promised my father that I will not allow him to touch me.
I am now 23 years old and I have a daughter. Her father and I are planning to get married in December. I did not plan to get pregnant but the condom that he used broke. When my father realised that I got pregnant, he was shocked, but I was crying my heart out and my father asked me to explain to him how that could happen. I told my father everything. He told me to bring my boyfriend to him. When my boyfriend went, my father asked him what was his intention towards me. He told my father that he wants to marry me. My boyfriend sells insurance. He works very hard. We love each other.
What my boyfriend does not know is that my father has an account for me. My father said he would use a portion of that to help us with the wedding.
My babyfather doesn’t know that my father intends to contribute to our wedding. Do you think I should tell my boyfriend what my father intends to do? My father did not tell me not to tell him. Give me your advice, please.
A
Dear A.,
Your father is a great Jamaican. He is very wise. Your mother behaves as an ignorant woman. The thing that she should have told you as a young girl, she withheld from you. But I am glad that you are doing well. Your dad has a special love for you; that is why he has your name in an account. He is now willing to use some of that money towards your wedding.
If you are engaged to your fiancé and the date of the wedding is set, you should tell your fiancé about the money that your father has promised to give to you. Only at that time he should be made aware of what you have. I hope that you and your gentleman would be very careful. Don’t allow him to get you pregnant again until long after you are married.
Pastor








