7 TIPS FOR RAISING SELF-CONFIDENT GIRLS

Here’s how you can help your girl become her best, self-confident self.

Unfortunately there is no secret formula to raising strong, capable girls and instilling confidence in them. But there are surefire ways to help them rise above whatever challenges they face and feel good about themselves and their abilities. Try out these suggestions to nurture your girl’s self-confidence.

Explain to her how confidence, self-esteem, and the growth mindset are connected. They tend to overlap, and confidence (or the lack thereof) can positively or negatively affect your girl’s self-esteem and sense of self-worth. When your girl feels confident, she believes that she’s good at and capable of doing so many things. What’s more, when your girl is bursting with confidence, she always remembers that she’s capable of changing, growing, and improving despite challenges and failures, which is what the growth mindset is all about!
Ask her about her day, daydreams, and hopes for the future, and express genuine respect for what she has to say. Conversations like these encourage your girl to speak up and voice her thoughts and opinions. In the process, you’re able to tune into her emotions better and help her understand and manage these feelings by herself.
Encourage her to discover her passion and explore the entrepreneurial opportunities behind these interests. It’s a good idea to cast a wide net when helping your girl find out what she likes to do. Hobbies, music lessons, and after-school STREAM (science, technology, reading and writing, engineering, art, and math) activities improve critical thinking, artistic expression, and problem-solving skills. Taking care of pets or protecting the environment is a valid passion, too. All of these examples have the potential to spark a business idea or two. They also motivate your girl to channel her inner entrepreneur and challenge herself to do something beyond her comfort zone. At the same time, your girl shakes off self-doubt and builds her self-confidence. Don’t forget to compliment her for her grit and resiliency!
Open up about your mistakes. Missteps are a normal part of life. So, share how you’ve made mistakes in the past and what you’ve learned from them. Letting your girl slip up from time to time, recover, and learn from it is one of the best ways she can improve her confidence.
Be mindful of labels and gender stereotypes. Research shows that parents’ or guardians’ gender stereotypes and expectations significantly influence their children’s self-identity and academic achievement. Gender biases can, unfortunately, cause kids and teens to second-guess their talents and skills in fields where they think the opposite gender is stronger. Do what you can at home to counteract these biases so your girl forms a healthy understanding of gender and gender roles.
Give her a chance to become more independent. When you do everything for your girl, you’re not giving her the opportunity to put in the hard work and learn how to be self-sufficient. An independent girl does everything more confidently, from taking on more responsibility to working out who she is and what she wants to be.
Tell her that you believe in her. Your love, belief, and support mean the world to your girl. And the more she hears it from you, the more she believes in herself.

Don’t worry if your girl’s confidence levels go up and down. This happens to all of us. What’s more important is that your girl pursues different opportunities that build her confidence and that she absorbs the lessons you share with her. Soon enough, your self-confident girl gets used to making safe, informed decisions for herself and working through all kinds of sticky situations. She also enthusiastically tries new things and focuses on the effort instead of the outcome.

Need more tips on how to raise a self-confident girl? Our collection of quotes from role models gives an added boost!