Today, Father’s Day, is a special day to celebrate the important and more active role our fathers are assuming in raising children.
Even though mothers tend to be the dominant role model for nurturing behavior in their daughters, fathers also play a significant role in the development of their daughters’ personality, values and behavior.
Fathers often influence a daughter’s career choice as well as her sense of competence and self-worth.
Today’s wide-open rules for living are more challenging for young women than ever before. Society often offers images of girls in a sexual manner through the media, lyrics, advertising and movies.
This places girls in greater danger of being sexually or physically assaulted, for having an eating disorder or an alcohol addiction, and for being depressed or suicidal.
In fact, more than 60 percent of 8- to 12-year-olds dress and talk like teens, and gifted girls, especially in grades 5-9, downplay their accomplishments.
Although the media, peers and pop culture are strong influences, a most important and saving factor that aids girls in growing into confident and well-adjusted women is a caring and involved father.
Here are some strategies that enable every father to positively affect the life of his daughter:
» Encourage her to serve the community by volunteering with her — to feed the less fortunate at a local shelter; give to a clothing drive; clean a beach.
» Pay attention to her feelings, not her words. Her conversations may at times be irrational and filled with emotion. She may sound frightened and unreasonable. Focus on what she is feeling.
» Focus on her inner beauty and uniqueness — understand and cultivate what she believes, thinks, feels, dreams and does, rather than on how she looks. Give her confidence to value her true self by praising women among family and friends for traits such as ambition, stamina, assertiveness, humor, grace and character.
» Inspire confidence by teaching her to have a firm handshake, look people in the eye when she talks to them, and to speak when others are silent on issues of integrity and honor.
» Encourage her participation in sports and being physically active. Team work and collective effort help to equalize gender relationships and teach lessons that can be applied to all areas of life.
» Involve yourself in her school. Volunteer to chaperone activities, read to her class and share about your profession.
» Watch your own stereotypes by asking her to assemble a prefabricated shelf, then work together to prepare dinner.
» Share special times: from watching high adventure videos with a special snack to body-boarding; from playing tennis to catching the latest movie.
» Get real about her future. Her education is paramount to her economic security.
» Help her develop a character of honor, integrity and hard work.
Today’s culture and environment pleads for fathers to nurture their daughters’ growth by affirming their inherent goodness, specialness and importance to a successful society.
Helping a daughter develop confidence and a strong voice is one of the greatest gifts a father gives his daughter.
