When my daughter was born, the first hope I journaled for her was about self-worth. I hope that she trusts that her self-worth is inherent and not earned. This was the inspiration for the first story for my daughter called “Roger the Squirrel and the Ancient Oak Tree”. When self-worth becomes conditional To write the story, I had to examine my own self-worth, where life has tested me, and where I’m still learning. First, I needed to get clear on what self-worth meant to me. S

As I journaled the hopes for my daughter, I found myself asking a larger question: What kind of world do I hope my child will shape? So during the night, while pacing the house at 3AM trying to settle a baby, I held this question and kept returning to the same three things: More dignity, love, and care. Dignity feels like the stand. It is the acknowledgement that we belong to life before we earn, prove, perform, or achieve anything. I’m not talking about social honour,

These letters are born from a father’s love for his daughter. In the mayhem and magic of those first postpartum weeks, I began writing a journal for you, my daughter. It became a place to make sense of becoming your father, to capture the moments we were living through, and to wonder about the conversations we might one day have. It is early morning in the middle of February, and you are one week old. Pale light drifts through the shutters into a house still cold and quiet fr