How to Raise a Healthy Daughter

Raising a daughter in today's world is more difficult than ever before. Not only are children growing up faster, now society floods messages to girls that aren't always the right or healthy thing to do. Before you let the unhealthy culture take over your family, use this guide to help you understand how to raise a healthy daughter.

Instructions

1. Let your daughter know that she can come to you with any situation without fear throughout the years that your raise her. Along with words, let your actions show that you want an open and honest relationship with her.

2. Model how to respect and love your body. Show your daughter how to have a healthy body image and talk about what it means to look at your body in healthy ways. When you love yourself for who you are and take care of your body, that's setting a healthy example for her to follow.

3. Have some sex talk. Talk about sexual messages your daughter may encounter early and bring up only the situations she's emotionally ready for, but be prepared to talk about deeper subjects like safe sex and sexually transmitted diseases at an earlier age than you may expect. Focus on abstinence and emotional safety as well as physical safety to raise her awareness and choose a healthy lifestyle.

4. Allow her to dream and help her follow them. Remember that she may be very different than you and your ideas may not always mesh, but giving her the freedom to create and follow her own dreams will be one of the best gifts you can give. Knowing that you support her choices as you raise her will be priceless in the end.

5. Help her foster healthy friendships and nurture them as they grow and change. Although you may want to be her best friend, there are times when you will need to be a mother first and she will need those friendships to fall back on. As girls mature, friendships are often strained, so your support and advice will be invaluable in times of need as you raise her.

6. Keep her healthy by offering a balanced diet, modeling correct food choices and giving her enough calcium and protein, which are essential to females.

7. Spend quality time with her, even when it seems like there's no time available. Take the advice of older mothers who know that children grow up in the blink of an eye and often moms wish they could go back and do less cleaning and more playing. She will remember the time you spent with her, and time is the foundation of great relationships.

8. Hug and kiss your daughter every chance you get. When little, teach her to feel comfortable expressing her love for family and friends. When she gets a little older and may become embarrassed at the thought of a hug or kiss in public, respect her wishes, but steal one each moment you can.