What Should Mothers Teach Their Daughters?

Being a mother to a daughter is a beautiful thing to be, but it can also be challenging. It is essential that, as a mother, you are able to teach your daughter the things she will need to know to grow up to be a successful, happy, healthy individual who can be her own person and who can go through life with all the benefits she can.

Here are some of the most important thing a mother can teach her daughter – this education starts early but continues into adulthood, and will never be forgotten.

Have Confidence In Herself

Girls do have a tendency to lack self-confidence and self-worth. They constantly compare themselves and their lives to those of other people, and will always find a way that whatever the other person is doing or experiencing is better than their own lives. They criticize their own appearance, picking faults and finding the problems rather than celebrating the good.

A mother can teach her daughter to have more confidence in herself, to see herself as the wonderful, beautiful, unique individual that she is. This can be done by ensuring that your daughter is praised for her achievements and encouraged to continue and do more. Let her know that she is talented, and even if the results were not what she might have wanted (in any kind of venture) don’t let her believe that she is worthless – there is always more that can be done, always another path to tread.

Be Her Own Person

It is all too easy for a child or young adult to give in to peer pressure and stop doing something that she loves just because it isn’t deemed ‘cool.’ The desire to fit in with everyone else and be as popular as other people seem to be can feel overwhelming, and young girls can feel that no matter what they do, they just can’t be like the others.

As a mother, you should let your daughter know that not being like the others isn’t a bad thing. Fitting in isn’t that important. Being yourself and doing something you enjoy, something that brings happiness no matter what it happens to be is vital. The lesson here is that by being herself, your daughter will grow to be a happier person, and one who is able to follow her dreams without fear of what other people think or say. That’s a huge life lesson to learn, but one that will help her massively in the future.

Respect Herself And Others

Having respect for yourself is the beginning of being a well-rounded, successful person. Some girls feel they are not whole if they are not part of a couple, but that can lead to problems, and they might find a partner who doesn’t respect them as they should be respected.

Teaching your daughter that they need to love themselves and be comfortable with themselves before they can allow anyone else to do the same, and you and they will find that when they do find a partner, he or she treats them as they should be treated; with love and respect.

Respect does go both ways, and it’s essential that mothers also teach their daughters how to respect others. Being polite, listening, doing the right thing, and working hard are all ways to respect other people.

This can be related to any aspect of life, from looking after siblings to taking notice of teachers and even ensuring that elderly parents are cared for in old age. Having a strong relationship and working together to find the right choice will be beneficial in this circumstance. If this is something you need to consider, look into CareBuilders at Home to understand the sort of services available that you could discuss with your family.

Be Self-Reliant

This is a hugely important lesson for everyone to learn; relying on others for everything is not a healthy way to live, and it won’t push you towards success. It’s also a difficult lesson for mothers to teach because they will always want to help their daughters as much as possible, and the temptation to just do things for them to save them any problems or upset is a strong one. However, by helping them to do things for themselves, you are making them much more able people who will be able to go out into the wider world with confidence and ease, knowing that they can do anything they set their minds to.

Lessons that fall under this category could include teaching your daughter how to cook, for example. You don’t have to be an expert yourself, as long as you can teach her the basics and let her experiment with other ideas if and when she wants to. You could also teach her how to do housework, which is ideal for younger children who want to earn some pocket money, and how to be confident around others. This way, when they move out of the home and are perhaps living by themselves, they will be able to do everything they need to do to live well.

To Be Honest And Open

Being honest and open is something that mothers should teach their daughters because it will not only enhance the child’s relationship with others, but it will strengthen the mother-daughter bond too. There should be nothing that your daughter is too ashamed or embarrassed to talk to you about, and although this can be a tough thing to bear for a mother, it can also be the best thing – it can strengthen your relationship and help your daughter to become more confident in talking about her feelings.

Bottling things up because you are too afraid to let someone know what you are thinking or feeling can have devastating mental and even physical consequences, and if nothing else, can lead to you having an unfulfilled and potentially unhappy life. To allow your daughter the freedom to be herself and to express her feelings is one of the most important lessons you can teach her, and it will help her forever. She will be able to pass this and all other lessons onto her own children should she have any too.

Thanks to Zaklina