How To Be A Confident Role Model To Our Daughters

ByJo Painter

In today’s age of social media, selfies and celebrity worship, it scares me that our daughters are under such pressure to get everything right.  It feels really important to me to be a confident role model, but how can I achieve that when I’ve got so many things wrong?

black-woman-and-daughter-long-hair

Then it occurred to me, that as young women are being bombarded with pictures of success and perfect looks. Having someone who’s happy and loves them but still has faults and flaws would be a great antidote.

 

This led me to really think about what messages about confidence, we could share with our daughters and how to model those behaviours, to give them the most impact.

 

I came up with these 6 ideas:

  • Share your failures as well as your successes. We have a society that isn’t open to sharing our vulnerabilities and as a result, we rarely talk about our failures. It’s important that we show young women that it’s not only okay but necessary, to fail sometimes
  • Talk about your role models. There are so many fantastic female role models, in almost every area of interest. Identify your role models and share their stories with your daughters to inspire them
  • Speak confidently. Show young women by example, that you can speak up for your opinions and ideas, and you don’t have to apologise or soften your words. Using phrases such as “I think this might be the answer…” or “Sorry, but would you mind if I….” just undermines your message

Daughter

  • Take a risk. Let them see you take a step out of your comfort zone and hear you share the uncomfortable feelings you have. Tell them about the situation, and how the feeling does pass, to be replaced by pride in what you’ve achieved.
  • You can own and talk about your successes, and still be ‘nice’. We’re often taught in childhood that ‘blowing your own trumpet’ isn’t polite or nice, which means we don’t celebrate and talk about our achievements. By demonstrating that you can accept the credit, you are showing respect not only to yourself but to the other person.
  • Focus on being a role model. By changing your behaviours to give a positive influence to young women’s confidence, you will also be reinforcing your own self-esteem.

 

Do let me know if you agree with these ideas and have any more of your own.

 

I’m passionate about supporting young women to be confident and authentic, so please click the share button to pass the message on.

Jo

 

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