Dad-of-5 girls shares his rules for dating his daughters

Most fathers have rules for the men who would want to date their daughters and most times the list of rules is usually really long. But a father's list, though short, has gone viral for how empowering they are.

J. Warren Welch, a Tennessee father has very simple rules for boys attempting to date his five daughters. He shared the rules on Facebook on Sunday and, at the moment, it's been shared over thiusands of times such that major news outlets are already sending him emails, requesting for an interview.

"Rules for dating my daughters," Jeff Warren Welch began on Facebook. "You'll have to ask them what their rules are. I'm not raising my little girls to be the kind of women who need their daddy to act like a creepy possessive badass in order for them to be treated with respect."

Welch, 39, continued: "You will respect them, and if you don't, I promise they won't need my help putting you back in your place."

The Jonesborough, Tennessee, father closed by telling potential suitors, "Good luck, pumpkin."

Welch and his wife, Natasha Welch, have a blended family where they're parents to five girls, ranging from the age of 6 to 16. He told ABC News he was inspired to write his rules after overhearing a conversation at work, where he's the manager of an all-male department in a factory in the Appalachian Region. His coworkers were discussing intimidating men who were coming to date their daughters.

misogyny in it."" data-reactid="42" type="text">"I understand the mindset. I'm a very protective father," he said. "But I'm more sensitive because a lot of the messaging has overtures of misogyny in it."

Welch, who describes himself as a poet and a feminist, said although he grew up in a very "conservative household" where women were "submissive," he's really trying to ensure his daughters become the best women they can be.

"It’s trying to raise them to know who they want to be and to be who they want to be and to do what makes them happy," he explained. "As a father raising daughters, I have to step back. I don’t get to build this picture of what my daughter’s lives should look like."

Unlike so many fathers who have rules to ensure men treat their daughters right but do not extend such courtesy to their own wives, Jeff adores his wife and constantly showers her with encomium on his Facebook page. After his rules went viral and social media users flooded his page, he wrote a post crediting his wife for being the reason he feels safe writing the kinds of things he does.

Posted By Red-Eye Blog