Well now, this is a very interesting subject to many and is often very misunderstood.
In many groups a DaddyDom is someone that has attained the respect of all those involved in the group because of his age (normally the oldest) and becuase of his experience in the lifestyle. He is looked upon as the father figure of the group, the one that others go to for guidance.
Daddy Dom does not refer to the ages, real or pretend, of the participants. Nor does it imply closet desires of having sex with under aged people. It has nothing to do with and both paries are of legally consenting age. It refers to the environment that two people have created. A Daddy Dom is so named because of the qualities he possesses.
Daddy Dom wants to be the center of your universe. He wants to be able to provide for your every need and care. But more than that he wants to be able to shape and mold you to the image he thinks you should become. He sees in you someone who, in his mind, can achieve a much higher, much greater status. He believes more in you than you believe in yourself. What he wants in return is to be able to bask in his image of you.
His love for his little girl goes without saying. He accepts every part of her and works to emphasize the good while improving the bad. He loves her as much for who she is as for who she will become with his guidance. It is this love that allows him to train her. He could not invest so much of himself in someone he did not love.
This love would not be possible without respect. A Daddy Dom needs to feel great pride in his possession. He needs to know she can hold her own in the outside world and still submit to him. He holds the greatest respect for the gift she has given him and takes great pains to increase it's value. It is extremely important to him to know she can be with any man and she chooses to be with him.
He knows that this makes discipline a priority in their lives, more important than in some other D/s relationships. In order for the little girl to really trust she must know he means what he says. If he does not enforce discipline, this respect becomes a tenuous thing. If his submissive finds that she can manipulate him out of disciplining her, she begins to lose respect and the ability to empower becomes impeded. He needs to empower her as much as he wants to possess her and it becomes increasingly difficult to be possessed by someone you do not respect.
The discipline is also important when it comes to her protection, both from those outside the relationship and those within. He is the one who makes the decisions about how she will relate to the world in general and his discipline ensures that she follows these rules.
I think most Doms have a bit of the Daddy in them, taking on the role of male authority figure in their submissive's life and using their power to enrich that life. Daddy/little girl verbalizes that feeling, and adds a dimension of warmth, caring, and ritual that it's participants crave.
Rookie Scribe