How to Raise Teenage Daughters

I don't claim victory, yet; my younger daughter is only 15. But I'm pleasantly surprised how well my two daughters turned out so far!

Instructions

Difficulty: Challenging

Things You’ll Need:

• A supportive wife (or husband if you're the wife)
• Two teenage, or about to become teenage, daughters
• Patience, love and understanding

1. Take 2 teenage girls Start with Two Relatively Well Adjusted Daughters
   Knowing that girls are handicapped in this male dominant culture, I would always try to overcompensate with them, telling them such things as "Girls are better than boys, you know." With enough repetition, I think that added some to their self esteem growing up.
2. What is Try to Maintain as "Normal" a Home Life as You Can
   Normal is a relative term. What's normal for us may not be normal for you. All I know is, we have a fairly traditional home life with dad working and a stay at home mom. This structure seemed to work to provide the girls sufficient access to their mom while allowing me to come home and be with them when work permitted.
3. Family dinner Have Dinners Together Often
   It's not easy now with one away at college and the other in high school. But we do manage more than half of dinners together with one or both of the girls. It's a great opportunity to check in with them, without distractions of TV or the internet. We've also designated Sunday's as "family day" or for "family dinner." Doesn't always happen, but we make the effort.
4. Be supportive Be Supportive but Don't Go Overboard
   We give the girls a fair amount of leeway in their lives, but there are limits. It's best to be clear about what those limits are in terms of curfews, dating, and advice about drugs and drinking. Our girls are four years apart and they younger one seems to be growing up faster than the older one because she has the benefit of the older one's experience and hanging out with the older kids.
5. Family fun Have Fun Together Whenever You Can
   Birthdays are special in our house and we try to do things together as often as possible. This includes at least one family vacation as well as spending the holidays together, usually with our extended families.