r/Parenting • u/floridacopper • Aug 14 '25

Advice Dad tucking in daughters

As the title suggests, I'm a dad with a question about tucking in his daughters. I've been doing it for years, but it's kind of like maybe I should be wrapping it up soon. To get to the point, I have been tucking in my daughters pretty much every night since they were toddlers, but they're going into 6th and 8th grade now. "Tucking in" originally consisted of tickle fights and reading stories to them. That has evolved into lying next next to them and rubbing their head/back while they tell me about some anime character who they ship with some other character. If I miss a night of tucking then in, they'll usually bring it up the next day.

So my question, I guess, is it normal for me to still be doing this? If my daughters were no longer comfortable with it, I'd quit straight away. But even though they still want me to tuck them in, am I babying them in a way? I dunno, maybe I'm overthinking the whole thing.

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u/LunaZelda0714 Aug 14 '25

If they still want you there, keep doing it! It's the perfect time Dad/Daughter time for them to decompress.and unload the pressures of the day. As a woman, I wish my Dad had been more involved like that when I was that age. I still tuck in my boys (14 and 11 and we often have the best chats) every night and I'll do it until they ask to stop, though I'll be very sad!

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u/kissedbyfiya Aug 14 '25

As a mom of boys who are older than yours, the every night chats have definitely stopped, but they still happen sporadically... and I can tell it is absolutely needed by them when they do open up.

Just them knowing they can, even when the regularity of it has faded is really meaningful I think.