Our daughters truly are the future and the carrier of our legacy. This makes us quite responsible while nurturing them and making sure that they gain everything that we lacked during our childhood. I want to raise strong independent girls who will speak up and stand tall. These tips for raising strong girls will help them achieve this.
I want my children to know that they were raised by a confident woman who knew what their girls needed to stand tall in this patriarchal world.
Our children learn a lot from what they see and we are their role models while they’re still growing up. Hence the only key to raise a confident girl is to show her how to be one. It is easy to think that we live in a fair and equal society but we are far from achieving this ideal.
Here are some tips on raising a confident girl boss:
1. Notice your actions
Your girl will always notice how you dress up, what you talk about, and how you talk to her. She is always going to pick up things from your traits, so be sure that you’re careful of what you speak for it creates a huge impact in their little minds and hearts.
When you’re raising strong girls, you need to make sure you’re treating her like one. For example, involve her in taking decisions, ask her about life choices, and discuss things with her. It creates a significant difference in the child’s mind when they’re talked to as an adult. This will enable them to make thoughtful decisions and confident women are always proud of her choices.
2. Talk to her of everything but beauty
I see many women being super concerned about how beautiful their girl looks. They’re so over-possessed by the outer appearance that it becomes their girl’s sole identity.
Your little one is more than just being beautiful. She doesn’t need that perfect shape in order to be loved or successful. While raising a girl’s boss, mothers need to be utterly careful about how they’re displaying beauty to their girl child.
3. Lead her by an example
Surround your girl child with the stories of some amazing women who conquered the world. Make them feel inspired by the strength we girls possess which cannot be ever limited.
When these little girls know that someone has already achieved what they dream for, they will be pumped to think big. Your girl-boss just needs you to show her the path while she is all ready to conquer it on her own.
4. Teach her the value of bonding
We always read about girls being mean in their teens, not only to their parents but also with her friends. The roots for this are deeply sown in their early childhood. You need to teach your little girl the value of true friendship, the value of having a tribe, and a community of strong women who wants to slay their goals in this tough world.
You can teach your girl-boss to be a better friend by being one. Show her that uplifting other women won’t bring her down and that success is all about collective work. You cannot rise by pulling others down. We need to make sure that in the process of raising a strong, independent girl, we are also raising a better human.
5. Focus more on the journey than the destination
When we talk about success and failure, we always focus on our goals and dreams. This is the time to teach her the value of the journey. Let her know how invaluable the path is which will lead her to the destinations. There is so much more to learn on the journey rather than just reaching.
Through this teaching, you’re making sure that your daughter knows that the outcome isn’t always everything. She may fail at times but she will always honour the lessons that this journey taught her. Let’s give our little confident girl the ability to accept failure as another stepping stone. It can only make them stronger this is one of my top tips for raising strong girls.
6. Teach her positive body image
We always keep rambling about our looks and that we are not ‘beautiful’. Your girl doesn’t want to hear this and get obsessed about her looks since her early childhood.
Teach her that all bodies are beautiful and all colors are pretty. There’s nothing such as white enough or too dark when it comes to beauty. If you’re practicing dieting, make sure that you’re doing this for being healthy and not skinny. We need to be careful that we are instilling a positive body image in our confident boss-babe.
7. Let her say ‘no’ often
This is something that we have struggled the most during our adulthood. We always find it so difficult to deny something that isn’t serving us. Be it a toxic relationship or soul-draining job, we just cannot say ‘no’ or have healthy boundaries because we are never taught so.
Let your little girl know that it is okay to say ‘no’ often to everything that doesn’t serve her purpose. There is no shame in denying and having healthy boundaries unless it harms others. Teach your confident women that it is okay to put herself first at times and not to feel guilty about that.
The bottom line:
Raising a strong, independent girl child is quite a lot of responsibility in itself. We as mothers need to be sure that we aren’t repeating the same mistakes that happened with us during our childhood.
Always remember that the kids follow what they see and not what they are told to read. You may give her plenty of books with strong female characters but if you fail to nurture yourself as one, she won’t be quite convinced.
This is more sort of an inner work rather than working on your girl babe. Raise her through your example of being free and confident. We have this huge responsibility to give a wonderful human to this world. Treat them with respect, compliment her often, make her realise of her inner beauty, teach her to fail and stand up again and at the end, show her how to be a confident woman by being one.
I really hope that this piece would have inspired you to raise a confident daughter. I would love to know how you’re raising your daughters. Do drop your views in the comments and we can all support each other with tips for raising strong girls.
Reading stories to our girls is key to providing them with diverse role models and that is why I love Fairy Tales Retold. The idea came from a dad who was reading to his daughter. He started changing words in the text and adding words like ‘brave’ instead of pretty. This led him to rewriting fairy tales for modern girls.
The first book Snow White was awarded the 2020 Kimi Seal for outstanding diversity in children’s books, it was featured in national and international media for its bold and dynamic retelling of a well-known classic.
15 Responses
Cinderella
The boy that cried wolf!
I loved the stoy of Amilia Earheart when i was little not really a fairy stor but very insprining to me at aged 8
What a fantastic prize. My grand daughter would love this
The boy in the stripped pyjamas – a lesson for us all to love and be kind
Although this is more a ‘story’ on film, I’ve always loved Star Wars. I partcularly liked Princess Leia because she was not the sort of character to sit around waiting for a prince to come and rescue her.
It’s so nice to see that more and more Disney movies and other children’s tales are chaning their focus.
What an amazing question! There’s a book I read to my class called ‘The Huge Bag of Worries’ which helps them tackle their anxieties head on – empowering them too!
My 4 girls Love the Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls
My favourite empowering story is Matilda. It’s a reminder that we are in control of our own destiny and we can do anything we really put our minds to. It was also one of the first stories I read with a strong female lead.
The Selfish Giant by Oscar Wilde which has the power to always make me cry
Strong, positive female role models – in fiction and in real life – help to inspire strong, positive young women.
I love Disneys Mulan. For those of you that don’t know the story; war is about to break out and every family has to send lat least one male to fight. Mulan has no siblings & her father is aging and in bad health. As a female, she is not allowed to go to war. She cuts off her hair, dresses like a boy, attempts to talk in a deep voice and disappears in the night without telling her family. She is amazing, by the time the men she’s fought alongside find out she’s a girl she’s earned their respect.
An amazing story to show that girls can do anything a man can, or better. It’s hard to belive that some countries still treat women as a weaker sex, and it wasn’t that long ago we couldn’t vote, get credit without our husbands consent or get jobs in typicamale roles ect.
The Green Mile, gets me everytime
Hermione Grainger in Harry Potter is a strong female role model!
The boy who cried wolf