How fathers can raise confident daughters
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John Badalament, EdM Author & Educator, shares advice for dads on how to raise competent and confident daughters, including important things to teach her
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For dads to raise competent and confident daughters, there are a few things to think about. The first is it is important to know and to realize that you as the first man in her life are the model for how she will relate with boys and men. So teaching her that men are respectful, that men listen, that men are present. All those lessons will affect how she relates to boys and men. So that is number one. Number two, it is important for dads with daughter to really think about and challenge the gender stereotypes that are so prevalent in our culture, specifically media images, the oversexualization of young girls. It is important that dads challenge those. For example, I noticed once that a friend would come over and always make a comment about how pretty or beautiful my daughter was. While it was well-intentioned, the focus on her looks was not proportionate to the importance of focusing on how strong she is, how smart she is. So I said to that friend could you please make sure not to just focus on the looks. So it is important that dads in small ways and in big ways challnege those gender stereotypes. And then the last thing for raising daughters that is important is encouraging her to have a strong voice. And one way of doing that is I will give you an example. My daughter used to do this thing where she would say. I would say do you want this and she would say I don´t know. I would say do you want it or not. So encouraging her to be clear, to be assertive and not to waffle or to accomodate. So dads can do a lot to strengthen that voice of their daughters by encouraging them to be decisive, to speak up and that requires of course listening.
John Badalament, EdM Author & Educator, shares advice for dads on how to raise competent and confident daughters, including important things to teach her
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John Badalament, EdMAuthor & Educator
John Badalament, EdM, is the author of the acclaimed Modern Dad’s Dilemma: How To Stay Connected with Your Kids in a Rapidly Changing World and Director of the PBS documentary All Men Are Sons: Exploring The Legacy of Fatherhood. His work has been featured on ABC News, NPR, in Men’s Health, Pregnancy, The Los AngelesTimes, and on HuffingtonPost.com. He serves on the Honorary Board of the Ties Never Broken Campaign, a partnership with The White House. John is a Harvard-trained educator who speaks internationally to schools, parent groups and organizations.
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