Meaning behind this poem?

The thing to remember about fathers is, they're men.


A girl has to keep it in mind.


They are dragon-seekers, bent on improbable rescues.


Scratch any father, you find


Someone chock-full of qualms and romantic terrors,


Believing change is a threat--


Like your first shoes with heels on, like your first bicycle


It took such months to get.


Walk in strange woods, they warn you about the snakes there.


Climb, and they fear you'll fall.


Books, angular boys, or swimming in deep water--


Fathers mistrust them all.


Men are the worriers. It is difficult for them


To learn what they must learn:


How you have a journey to take and very likely,


For a while, will not return.

Meaning behind this poem?
This poem illustrates the relationship between fathers and their daughters. Fathers are consumed with protecting their little girls and don't want to see them grow up.
Reply:In that piece, I think Phyllis McGinley was trying to rationalize some of her father's confounding behavior by prosaically rambling about it; romanticizing an absentee dad, perhaps.



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