Mothers, fathers, grandparents. Anyone on God's green Earth that is blessed enough to have given life to that perfect, beautiful, human being called your daughter, listen up!
Your daughter adores you more than anything in the entire world. She looks up to you, aspires to be like you, and is so thankful she's had such an amazing role model like you to watch and analyze as she's grown up these past years.
So do your little angel a favor and remember to have these conversations with her sometime throughout her life to remind her that you care about her and want nothing but the best for her. These are the conversations that she's going to want to have, will be waiting for, and will shape the way she chooses to live her life.
1. Let her know how beautiful she is.
It's important for a girl to build self-esteem early on so that those nasty middle school years don't seem like the worst days of her life. By telling her that she is genuinely pretty every now and then, she will begin to tell herself that she is pretty and she will believe it.
2. Tell her God's always on her side.
A girl's faith is what keeps her going when times are tough or when she feels like she has no one on her side. Make sure it's clear to your little girl that God will always be there for her to help her get through whatever problems she has.
3. Make sure she knows family comes first.
The absolute most important thing in life is family. They are a support system, role models, and the people who will love you no matter what.
4. Her happiness and respect is worth more than any man.
A man's love is one of the most powerful and influential things a girl will come into contact with during the course of her life. A man's influence is so powerful that a girl will do many things in order to keep his love. Make sure she knows that her own happiness and self-respect is valued far more than any man will be valued to her.
5. Educate her about the effects, risks, and dangers of sex, alcohol, and drugs.
This one is going to be the most uncomfortable and most anticipated, but extremely important. The topics that deal with her physical health and well-being will be the most valued to her because she'll see that you care about her safety and want her to be smart.
6. Push her to aspire to be intelligent.
Intelligence has been drilled more and more into the minds of girls compared to one or two generations ago. That, itself, is an improvement, but girls still need to grow up with the idea that they can and should have the same dreams, goals, and aspirations as boys. Install this type of thinking in her early.
7. Tell her it's OK to feel self-conscious, timid, or unsure.
Changing our minds ten times a day is one of the best parts about being a girl! Well, sort of... It's okay to say "I don't know" or "I'll sleep on it," but it's never okay to be forced to make decisions that she doesn't want to do because she feels like she has to.
8. Teach her to be independent when she needs to be.
Independence is key when teaching your daughter to be her own person. She has her own mind, opinions, and beliefs. It is important that she embraces those unique qualities and doesn't compromise them for anyone.
9. Let her know that mistakes are okay and necessary sometimes.
She can make mistakes, but she must learn from them and use that life experience to grow as a person. She won't know what's good for her if she doesn't learn to figure things out for herself by trial and error.
10. Most of all, tell her to never give up on anything she does or dreams of.
Persistence in any aspect of life will keep her pushing through anything that comes her way. Your daughter will appreciate the work ethic that you teach her early on because there are many times where she will be rejected, let down, or knocked down. In order to be successful, she will need to learn that giving up gets you no where and persevering leads to greatness.
With that, I want to thank my mom, dad, grandparents, aunts, and uncles for being brave enough to have these conversations with their daughters and for creating such strong, beautiful, successful girls who turned into women.
