“Eclectic, interesting…will fill you with hope and resolve!” – Pick up our new short story collection, Women.Mutiny
The world keeps telling girls to be docile and quiet. However, girls today aren’t meant to be quiet; raise them to be strong, loud and independent!
As the mother of a daughter, I know very well that women can have the most impact on those close to them. They are constant, fostering, and powerful, and also have the motherly nature.
Since birth, women are still instilled with the belief that does not go beyond things like raise the kids, cook, live life in accordance to the family or the husband.
Raising kids with expectations is totally okay. However, if you’re constantly bringing to your young daughter’s mind that this is where she will end up- looking after the house and all, then it is a totally wrong way of thinking. While, ultimately, it may be what she does, it needs to be her decision to do so. And it can only be her decision is she is raised right.
In the modern era, a number of girls are working either as doctors or engineers. But is it always their choice to do so? The society rarely allows girls to practice the profession of their own choice.
And I think the worst thing here is the fact that they are taught to be perfectly okay with all of it. The society has conditioned us such that parents believe a girl will be happy if she chooses a profession deemed appropriate by the society.
If you have a young daughter and want her to grow up as a strong independent woman, here are a few tips that might help you.
Meddling with the child’s decisions begins right at kindergarten! Telling them whom to play with and who not to, without a reason is utter foolishness. Kids need to be taught to identify the good and bad themselves.
Some of my friend’s still have parents who are constantly meddling in their lives! They call them all day long with all kinds of things. Now if you also have such parents, how will your daughter learn to think for herself?
Let your child make their own mistakes. How else are they going to learn?
Be a good parent and teach the girls to identify the good and bad in others. Give them the power to think and decide what to filter and what not to.
Create a schedule- set up a predictable time when your daughter knows that you are available to listen to her. Maybe during a car ride or during an evening walk, set up a time when you can let her be. Don’t solve her problems for her, hear her out and let her use it as a problem solving exercise. Give advice ONLY if she asks for it.
The answers she figures out will be the ones that will help her grow and learn.
Parents often teach their daughters that marriage is ‘the most important‘ thing in their life. But honestly, it is not! Explain to her that it is not the the most important thing.
She isn’t born to cook, have children and look after a house. There are other things she can do and will do. When a woman starts to discover her flairs, capabilities, her intelligence, she understand her true potential. Raise your daughter to create her own identity.
Make sure that she knows that she should marry only when she is ready for it. She does not need to compromise for this decision. I believe it is irrational to force anyone to spend their lives with a person they’ve only know a week or a month.
Every parent needs to ensure that their daughter is strong enough to raise her voice if she is being wronged. She needs to know that she can and must stand up for herself and that you will be by her side, when she does.
Finally, I just want to say, that if girls don’t want to get married, they should say it directly, without making excuses. Teach your daughters to be independent, to raise their voices and to have an opinion of their own.
If your daughter is strong and independent, she will make others strong and independent too!
Picture credits: Puma’s Propah Lady Ad
Shailja is a writer,blogger & a content curator by profession. A editor in collaboration with
Tell me what? Women Reveal One Piece Of Advice They Wouldn’t Give Their Daughters
Teaching Daughters To Raise Their Voices And All Things Parenting In A Decade Of Women’s Web!
Time To Raise Our Voices Against Street Harassment, And How
The Condition Of Conditioning
Stay updated with our Weekly Newsletter or Daily Summary - or both!