A happy and confident daughter is something every parent dreams of having. Unfortunately, the world isn’t always kind to our girls, and with all the toxic media and a strange culture we currently live in could influence your daughter’s confidence for the worse. To prevent that from happening, you want to help your daughter build her own future and learn how to be a strong, self-assured person who is unafraid to follow her own dreams. But how can you do that? How can you be supportive without being overbearing, and how do you teach your child all that she needs to know to be successful? Let’s find out.
Lead by example
Children, especially really small children, soak up everything we do. They tend to remember it much better than the things we say, and it doesn’t sit well with them when we contradict our words with our actions. If you want your daughter to be confident and pursue her dreams, then you must allow yourself to do the same thing. Talk to her about your own passions, confide in her, teach her that it’s okay to have faith in yourself. If you want her to work hard, then be a hard worker yourself and show her how to do things and handle situations by handling them well yourself.
Let her fix her own mistakes
The very worst thing you can do is to keep going behind your child and pick up after them, fix the mistakes they make, and generally never let them find their own path. If you do that, your daughter will start expecting that others will always be there to fix her mistakes, or even worse, you’ll end up teaching her that she’s inadequate and useless, and that she can’t do things right on her own. Sometimes a mistake is the best lesson a person can have, and if you want a capable child let them screw up and face the consequences, let them feel their way out of a situation. Discuss what can be done when something bad happens, but don’t always jump to fix everything yourself. It’s also important that your child learns that failure is completely okay and that she can always use it to figure out where she went wrong, and then do better next time.
Invest in her education
Education is the single most important thing in a child’s life, right after their health. If she is to make her dream come true, she needs to have the skills that can make it happen, and becoming smart, and wise, and able is necessary to stay on the right path. Even underprivileged families who live in poverty can invest in knowledge by looking into education foundation scholarships for young girls, and as a parent, you should do your best to make this readily available. Love of school and learning begins at a young age, so before she even starts any classes, teach her to love books, encourage her curiosity, show her how useful it is to have a skill.
Teach her emotional intelligence
Beyond simple school, your daughter will also need to navigate the waters of social interaction and learn how to deal with relationships, loss, and failure. She needs to know how to communicate her wants and needs, and how to feel things without getting completely lost in the feeling. She needs to know everything about boundaries and self-respect, talk to her about your own emotions and encourage her to always be open.
Listen
Let her tell you about her dreams. Listen without judgment, and sometimes listen without the immediate need to say something or give advice. Sometimes people just need to talk and aren’t looking for a solution to their problem. You will encourage her passions by listening patiently, by asking questions and showing interest.
Above all, respect your child and teach her how to demand respect from others. Teach her how to be kind and patient, because she will need patience to reach her goals. Show her that you love her, that you’re there no matter what, and let her find her own way to the stars.
