The Moral of The Story Part2: Teaching Our Daughters

Welcome back to The Moral of the Story! I am glad you are here to join me for part 2. Today I will be talking about what it means as a dad to be responsible for teaching our daughters morals and ethics as they grow up. In the first post in the series I talked about teaching our sons morals and how strong of an influence a dad can be. From how to treat a lady, to being an all around good guy, our sons will look to us as dads to be setting those examples. Sure they will see other influence around them, but we will remain the main source of learning. 

So what about our daughters? If dads will be the primary source of moral education for our sons doesn't it make sense that moms will be the primary source of moral education for our daughters? Well of course, that would be pretty natural I do believe. However, there is much about the world, about living right that our daughters can learn about from us dads. Let's dive in a little today and discuss. Teaching our Daughters:

We all know the fears of raising a girl. I think most dads are a little intimidated when first finding out they are having a girl. The fear of when they start dating and when they hit puberty. We have fears of how to raise them right. To teach them to know in their hearts they are beautiful no matter what the world, their friends, or the peers tell them. There seems to be so much more in the world that focuses on a girl and their image and who the world thinks they should be. This is a great place for a dad to step in and be a teacher. Morals are not just about how you treat others, but how you treat yourself as well. Dads can teach their daughters a lot about self worth. Most times, guys are going to be the ones to break a girls heart. Girls are more likely to drag your daughter down, make her self worth vanish in just a few words.

Dads, you can be the one to teach your son about how to treat a lady. You can also be the one to help teach your daughter that men who don't respect them and see past the layer of skin, are not the men they need to worry about. We can be a shoulder for our daughters to cry on when their hearts are broken and they are feeling at their worst. Be a dad that teaches strength in self. We can be dads who teach our daughters that no matter the words and the actions of others, they are wonderful, they are beautiful, and they are them. On the flip side, we also need to be strong in teaching our daughters to not be the ones to spread hate. A basic moral value for getting along with others: Always treat other's with respect.

I don't like to generalize people, although in this point, I think it is a universal thought. Girls are worse than boys when it comes to spreading lies, and deliberately cutting others down. For me, I want my daughter to grow up to learn that nobody is above her, and nobody is below her. We are all people. I want her to respect her friends, her parents, her peers. As a dad, I want to play the part of major influence on how she learns to treat others with respect and kindness. 

I want my daughter to grow up knowing that she can do and be anything she wants. Her sex doesn't determine her destiny. Women have many powerful roles these days. They hold high level jobs, they hold crucial government jobs. Yet still today we do see discrimination against women in the work place. We see it at high level jobs and at lower level jobs. All over the board, it is still going on. We as dads can be a reassuring force to our daughters as they grow up and support them in everything they do.  Mom is always going to be a major influence in a daughter's life, but dads can step up. We can be there to advise, to support, and to listen to the problems our daughters face as they go through life. 

All through life, our children will face many things. They will question things, themselves, and us. They will need to learn how to treat others, how to view themselves. They will look to us as mentors and advisors on a lot of different issues. They will turn to us to see how to live, how they should act. We can stand up and be active. We can take the time to talk to our children about right and wrong. We can challenge ourselves to be living examples to our children of how to live. We can live a life that reflects what  we want to teach them. The moral of the story can be something that we write, and they learn.