Empower Your Daughter to Pursue Her Dreams

Isla Ann Wright - 23 Feb 18

A good mother and daughter relationship is a powerful thing. Mothers are who we look up to, they are the women who make us strong, and they are the ones who inspire us to be good people and pursue our dreams. To cultivate such a strong bond with your daughter you must be a good role model, you must be there to support them and know how to find that fine balance between steering them in the right direction and giving them freedom to explore at the same time. If you want your daughter to be clever, successful, and skilled enough to pursue her own dreams, here are some ways you can inspire her.

Help her with body image issues

We live in pretty toxic times. There is nowhere your daughter can turn to and avoid facing some sort of media pressure to look and act a certain way, so it’s very important to be encouraging and teach her to love her own body. Remember, it’s not just about convincing her that she’s beautiful, either. It’s about teaching her that there’s more than beauty in this life, that she’s a valid, clever, good person regardless of her appearance. That she can accomplish anything, be anyone no matter what she looks like. The fact that she’s beautiful and unique is only a bonus, a cherry on top of the cake, but real substance is in her cleverness, in the way she carries herself, and the things she knows.

Tell her tales of strong women

Tell your daughter about important, powerful women. We don’t mean just celebrity ladies, we mean women like Hatshepsut, one of the greatest pharaohs in history, Ada Lovelace, who wrote the first computer program ever, Marie Curie, the first ever two-time Nobel Prize winner (for both chemistry and physics). Tell her about Boudica, Wu Ze Tian, Sayyida al-Hurra, Mata Hari – tell her about those who’ve made history through the power of their wits, their strength, their skill. Of course, pop culture icons will be important to her and that’s great because there are some amazing ladies today, but do make sure she knows those tales of adventure of interesting historical women. The book Rejected Princesses, for example, is an excellent thing to grab and read with your daughter because it’s full of positive role models and it’s great for girls of all ages.

Give her good education

Education is far from being the only thing that matters, but it does matter a lot and it will open many doors for her. However, instead of pushing her and pestering her to study more, try to inspire her to do it by showing her why it’s so important. Show her how fun it feels to be curious, tell her why grades matter so much right now, show her how children live when they have no access to education. A lot of disadvantaged girls don’t even have money to buy books for school, so talk to her and maybe consider giving to charity together. It’s important to make her excited about learning and give her a perspective on her own life and education. Don’t let her worry about finances, and help her learn about various girl’s scholarships she could apply for to reach her academic goals. You can also teach your daughter to love books early on in life and she’s bound to grow into someone with an inquisitive mind.

Listen and make no judgements

A good parent is the one who knows how to listen and talk to their child like an equal. Sometimes it’s not about giving advice and directing, sometimes it’s just about staying silent, letting your daughter speak her mind, and being her friend. You don’t always need to show her the solution, sometimes you just need to chat, give some feedback, and let her come to her own conclusions. Talk to her about her ideas and dreams, let her open her heart to you. Together you can craft plans and figure out ways to give her exactly what she wants from life.

Most of all, be there for your child. Tell her every day that she is loved, that she is safe, and be her role model. Teach her the things you know, talk to her about your own experiences, and she will know that having your dreams come true is entirely possible.

Isla Ann Wright

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