Scott Mackintosh readily admits that he is "a bit protective" of his four daughters and three sons, but says it comes with the territory of being a dad.

"Some may call me old fashion[ed]," the Utah County father wrote in a blog post, "but I call it 'a dad who loves his daughters' (and sons, too). I know some of you may be rolling your eyes and that's OK; my daughter does it all the time."

It was that same daughter who forced him to write that blog post in the first place so he could set the record straight.

You see, a couple weeks back, Mackintosh found himself "going viral" — a concept he confesses "an old dad like me is not familiar with" — after his daughter posted a photo of him in short-shorts and a "best dad ever" tee to her Tumblr page.

Looking to explain how that photo came to be, Mackintosh took to Becky Mack's Blog of Mild Chaos to explain himself.

It seems it all started with an impromptu attempt to teach his daughter the value of dressing more modestly.

One "family night" back in August, the Mackintoshes was getting ready to go out miniature golfing, when Scott heard his wife ask their daughter to change into "longer shorts" — a request that was abruptly refused with a resounding "NO!"

"Instead of turning her response and disrespectful attitude into a major battle, I decided to make a "small" statement on how her short-shorts maybe aren't as "cute" as she thinks," Mackintosh writes.

Using a pair of scissors he transformed "some old worn out pants into a set of short-shorts with the ends of the pockets hanging out the bottom."

According to Mackintosh, only about an inch of material stood between the world and his highly fruitful crotch.

Sporting his hot pants and a Father's Day gift he felt would perfectly accentuate his teachable moment, Mackintosh stepped out of the house ready to make his point.

As I walked out to the car I could see my daughter and her brother in the back seat with their heads down focused on their phones. Needless to say, they didn't even notice. I stood by the open driver's side door for a minute and even spoke to them, but their faces stayed focused on their phones. They didn't even glance up. They had no clue of how I was dressed.

Having gone this far, Mackintosh figured he might as well go even further.

The family's first stop at the Hibachi House restaurant, did yield some embarrassment for him and he ran into some family friends, but his daughter remained unfazed.

Things got a little more awkward at the putt-putt course, but the coup de grâce came as the family rounded third — Arctic Circle, for milkshakes — just before heading home:

As I pulled into a stall, my daughter said, “Uh, no! We are NOT going in!” I said “Sure we are, let’s go!” “No!” She said, “Let’s go through the drive up.” We went in, but she stayed in the car. She had had enough and did not want to go through any further embarrassment.

In a statement to Deseret News, Mackintosh said he conducted this experiment "in hopes that my daughter would know of my great love for her and that she knows of her great worth," adding that would gladly "look like an idiot any day if that point gets across."

And it seems like it just might have: In a follow-up interview with KSL News, Mackintosh said his daughter is "dressed a little bit better" now.

[H/T: MSN Now]