Every father wants their daughter to grow into a self-confident young woman. A woman needs her father by her side to become one. Healthy parenting requires you to be supportive and in tune with your children’s needs. You need to build a strong foundation with them through meaningful conversations. You should discuss important topics with your daughter, hear her thoughts, and guide her whenever possible. Many men may feel a little uncertain and even fearful, when they talk to their daughters about positive body confidence or appearance. Let us have a look at some of the tips that fathers can adhere to, while raising a self-confident daughter:
Make a connection: You should plan a father-daughter dinner or take time out to read together. Take a vacation with your daughter. If you live separately from your daughter, connect via calls, emails or video calls. You should play games together or stream a sporting event and watch it together.
Be there for your daughter: Even if you say nothing at times, simply reading out a book for her or bringing her a favourite snack when she’s studying, all these signals your presence in her life. Make yourself available to talk.
Focus on her strengths: Help your daughter learn, recognise and overcome barriers. Make her realise her own strengths to achieve her goals.
Be confident about her: Every dad wants to protect their daughter. But if you want her to learn to navigate the world with confidence, you need to express and demonstrate your belief that she can handle her own challenges. That means letting her take care of herself even when there are problems.
Discuss sexism: You should shield your daughter from sexism as long as possible, but discussing the ways of how she can handle it herself will help her immensely.
Play with her as you would do with a boy: Play with your daughter the same way you would play with her, had she been a boy. If you discriminate against her due to her gender, then she will do the same in future.
