Dr. Nancy’s recent guest Anea Bogue quoted Marianne Williamson as saying that you can determine the longevity of a species by the fierceness of their females, because the females protect the babies. By that measure, the human race is in trouble right now, she said.
It’s time to gather our strength and protect our young, boys AND girls. A study by the NYU Child Study Center showed girls self-esteem drops after age 9. That’s terrible for our whole culture, because girls make up 51% of the population. The whole team is weakened by women not having good self-esteem. When Anea’s own self-esteem plummeted, she went from being an A-B student to a C-D student. She saw the same things happening in her classroom with her girls.
What can parents and mentors do to raise a girl’s self esteem?
There are 9 things parents and mentors can do to raise girls’ self esteem (source: education.com):
- Watch what you say about your self, your daughter and other women.
- Get dads involved supporting their aspirations and accomplishments.
- Toss out gender stereotypes in household chores for ALL family members.
- Praise girls for speaking their mind and standing up for themselves.
- Let girls try and fail. (Especially you, Dad! Stop overprotecting.)
- Encourage girls to investigate STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and math).
- Encourage them in athletics.
- Watch media with your daughters and sons and discuss the portrayals of girls and boys.
- Help them to see advertising for what it is. Talk with them about how ads make them feel and why. See a list of questions for kids.