Mama always said that women support women, but girls tear each other down. Let her words be carried onto the next generation of daughters. In a world where the latest celebrity catfight is the news du jour, how can your do your part in helping America raise its daughters to support one another?
Lead By Example
You probably don’t realize how much you pick up on from your parents. Your children are observing every move you make, including the discreet ones you think they don’t know about like your visits to the online vape store. Show the girls in your life how women should be with one another instead of holding onto toxic friendships and bad habits.
- Be mindful of commentary about others that you make out loud. Even if you think that the too-tight ripped shorts look trashy on that girl in the mall, don’t say so out loud. Your daughters don’t need to hear you unnecessarily critiquing another woman; they will assume that this is okay behavior.
- Be friendly and genuine to everybody you meet. Don’t be fake and overly nice to other women — the little girls in your life need to know early on that yourself is the most beautiful person you can be.
- Show what good friendships look like by cutting out the people in your life who bring no good into it. Get rid of friends that have become “frenemies” and only keep the ones in your life who mean the most to you.
Help Her With Mean Girls
If being personally victimized by Regina George has taught us nothing else, we can take away that girls can be downright mean to one another. Disagreements and falling-outs are inevitable in life, but they can get especially vicious between girls. If your daughter is going through a rough spot in a friendship with another girl, help her to power through it.
- Listen to what she has to say as she tells her story. Ask her open-ended questions like “How did it make you feel when she said that?” and “Why do you think she reacted that way?”
- You are always on her side but don’t let your love cloud your judgment. Play devil’s advocate: Is she the victim or the mean girl?
- Don’t jump in and get involved. It is a hard one to digest, but she is learning valuable life lessons as she navigates through these problems. She is learning to become a stronger person for them.
Parenting in this hyper-connected, drama-fused world can be a scary consideration, especially if you have daughters. Teach them to be strong women instead of weak girls as they grow older.