On Her Last Day Of High School, Dad Hides The Sweetest Welcome To Becoming An Adult In His Daughter's Lunchbox
Transitioning to adulthood is hard, but she has a solid support system in her dad.
Lopolo | Shutterstock Entering adulthood isn’t easy for anyone. There’s a whole host of new responsibilities to take on. They include everything from having to pay your own bills to, apparently, having to peel your own oranges.
One dad wanted to give his daughter a sweet sendoff on her last day of high school and remind her of all they had been through together over the years. So, he left a note in her lunchbox that let her know it was time to take on some more responsibility in life. It warmed the hearts of Redditors everywhere.
A dad told his daughter that it was time for her to start peeling her own oranges.
A Reddit user shared a sweet post to the website’s r/MadeMeSmile subreddit that looked like it originally came from X. A screenshot showed what a user named Megs had posted. “My dad has been peeling oranges for my lunch since kindergarten and on my last day of high school I got this instead,” she said.
Reddit
The post included photos of a small plastic bag with a few oranges in it. In addition to the oranges, the bag held a piece of paper with a note he wrote that read, “It’s time baby girl,” along with a hand-drawn smiley face that was frowning and crying. The note was written on a printout of a WikiHow article — “How to Peel an Orange.”
Commenters loved the sweet post. “This person’s got a grade A dad,” one person said. Another added, “You just know that dad thought about doing that on the last day of high school YEARS before, and just had to wait for the pay off.” Someone else said, “Probably would still do it if asked. Peak dad energy there.”
Another person simply asked, “Who’s chopping onions in here?” referring to the wholesomeness of the gesture. “So he’s probably only doing this because college [equals] moving away and he won’t be there to peel them. Bet he was preparing to miss it like crazy,” someone else added. Another user sweetly pointed out, “This man didn’t just pack fruit. He packed a piece of himself every day.” “Well done, Dad of the Year,” said another. “May her dad live forever,” a third noted.
This dad seemed to be doing all the right things to prepare his daughter for her new role as an adult.
Raising a child to be a smart, responsible adult is no easy feat. Thankfully, there are resources out there that can help. For example, Texas Children’s listed several things parents can do to prepare children for adulthood. They recommended giving children your time, which is “your most important commodity.” This dad has clearly done that. Another pointer Texas Children’s had was to give your kids responsibility.
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No one could argue that this dad wasn’t giving his daughter responsibilities to take on and increasing them as she got older. While peeling oranges may be a small step, it still signaled to her that it was time for her to do more on her own and take on bigger things as well.
Some people might take issue with the fact that she didn’t know how to peel her own oranges already, but that’s really not the point.
It wouldn’t be a stretch for internet trolls to see that a high school senior who is likely 18 doesn’t peel her own oranges and think it’s the end of the world. And, really, peeling oranges is a skill that an 18-year-old should probably have. But that’s not really the point.
The oranges were just a metaphor. They were a message that he knows she's ready for life, and he can't wait to see her shine in all she does. He peeled the oranges for her because he cared, not because she couldn't do it herself.
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This dad is a good father who chose to be there for and take care of his daughter. He peeled her oranges every day because he wanted to. He chose to perform this small act of kindness for her out of love, and that’s a very special thing.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer with a bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism who covers news, psychology, lifestyle, and human interest topics.
