3 Things Your Daughter Won't Learn in School

When your daughter looks back on this year, chances are she won't remember what she learned in language arts or chemistry. She will most likely remember 2020 as the year the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic caused her to stay home for weeks on end, miss her favorite extra-curricular activities, and conquer long-distance learning with the rest of her classmates. 

But what if she remembered 2020 as the year she learned how to step up and lead, by watching you, instead? What if you looked at this time at home as an opportunity to share with her lessons you learned along the way that she won’t learn in school? 

We know you want to raise your daughter to be confident in who she is and in whatever she chooses to be—whether that is an entrepreneur, a CEO of a Fortune 500 Company, medical professional, or a thought leader. You have a unique period of uninterrupted time with your daughter during this season to capitalize on your strengths and cast a vision that is filled with possibilities. While you are grabbing lunch or in between Zoom meetings with the office, direct your conversations with her towards these three things she won’t learn in school but can learn from you:

1. Mental Toughness: This is the perfect time for you to share your personal story and how you have had to dig deep and persevere when life gets hard. This time of sheltering at home may be the first time your daughter has had to do without, struggle, or be challenged beyond what she is typically able to do. Let her know that this may be a hard season, but it will make her stronger if she seeks to be a learner, stretches her abilities, and finds it within her heart to be compassionate towards others. Delayed gratification makes us mentally tough in the end and this will serve her well as she matures and encounters other seasons filled with challenges. Seasons that will undoubtedly occur on her quest to change the world. 

1. How to communicate powerfully on camera:  Depending on your daughters’ age, she may already be sharing videos with her friends. But it is doubtful that she has taken a class or communicated with a teacher or leader on camera. Teaching her to respond respectfully, speak clearly, and powerfully convey her message will serve her well not only for distance learning but in her future career. Confidence on camera is the future of business as we know it and your daughter can not only learn this from you, she can observe you demonstrate this as you work from home and she watches.  You can even have her practice alongside you. 

1. Leadership: You know that strong leaders are expected to step up, be flexible, and inspire creativity as the need arises. Leaders don’t quit when times get tough. They rise above hardship and cast vision that makes others want to follow. Does she perceive a problem that needs to be fixed? Encourage her to work out a viable solution instead of complaining or avoiding the situation all together. Tell her you believe in her and give her the room to explore what her true leadership style looks like now and dream about what it can be in the future. Share with her how you are leading, and what's worked for you in the past. 

Raising a confident daughter takes a courageous mom like you. Sometimes it helps to surround yourself with other like-minded women who are passionately seeking to raise world changers as well. We have created a Facebook Group called Courageous Mom, Confident Daughters for community, resources, encouragement and packed with weekly live training. Join us here.