Raising Powerful Girls

When raising powerful girls, our ultimate goal is to make sure that they are secure with themselves. They grow to make positive decisions about their lives and they think critically about the world surrounding them. We want them to express their feelings in a way that shows love and compassion towards themselves and others. We want our girls to know that they can do and achieve anything that they put their minds to and there is nothing that can stop them. They will know that hard work, determination, and doing the right things will always put them ahead of the game. 

When we look deep into what a powerful girl is, she is a person that pursues her passion and doesn't allow the challenges of life to get the best of her. She is raised with the knowledge that she can do and be whatever she sets her mind to and there is no glass ceiling that she can't break. She is full of self-confidence and knows that beauty resides on the inside and outer beauty is a plus. 

A powerful girl is raised to have a voice in the decisions regarding her well being (whenever possible of course). As parents we allow our girls to make decisions on what she wants to wear, what activities she wants to participate in and what career path she wants to take when the time comes. Allowing these decisions to be made by our girls gives them a sense of control over their life and reinforces their high esteem. 

When raising powerful girls, we want our daughters to be able to solve issues on their own, without us always coming to the rescue. When we do this girls don't develop the necessary coping skills needed to handle situations on their own. Ask your daughter about three separate situations that you stepped in to handle for her. Ask her how she would have handle it (if the scenario allowed it) and what the possible outcome could have been. Even if you don't agree with how she handled it, you gave her a sense of control over her life and show her that she can be responsible for her decisions.

We also want our daughters to love the image that looks back at them in the mirror. Body image issues are high among tweens and teens, with the images they see in the magazines, social media and TV. It can be a bit over whelming to a young mind to constantly be reminded of how she's supposed to look. As parents raising powerful girls we want to reinforce that brains are much more important than outer beauty. That assertiveness going after your goals and passion will take you just as far if not farther than looks will. We also want to make sure that we are assisting our daughters in making healthy choices when it comes to food and emphasize the importance of physical activity. 

When it comes to sex and loving relationships we as parents want the best for our daughters and we want them to make the best decisions possible when choosing to go down that path. We want to have age appropriate conversations with them so she understands the difference between sexualized images in the media and healthy sexuality. Through give and take discussions, we can help her begin to understand the difference between love and lust and how the media frequently portrays sex without love, intimacy or emotion. We want our daughters to make healthy decisions regarding sex and love and the only way to give them the control they need to make those decisions is through conversation. 

We want our daughters to have control in every area of their life, and though that may not be possible at all times the areas that they do have control over we want them to feel secure and powerful in those roles. As parents we have to make sure that we are giving them the tools that they need to go out in this world equipped with the knowledge needed to be successful in all that they do. They can only do that with our love and support.