How Moms Can Teach Their Daughters the Importance of Women’s History
There will be times in your daughter's life when she might feel insecure or worried about the state of the world. A great way to show her all of her potential and help her feel more confident is to introduce her to women's history. By learning about the women who have changed the lives of all women, she may feel more confident in herself. Here are just a few of the ways you can teach her the importance of women’s history.
Thank Women in Your Lives
The easiest way to appreciate women is to start with your inner circle. Help your daughter reach out to the women in her life she admires. Understanding more about them and how they live their lives can teach her to appreciate different lifestyles of all women.
For those you can't visit, consider getting your daughter to send a card of appreciation. Your handwriting is what makes a physical card more heartwarming than a digital message. The joy that others will feel knowing they're appreciated will bring a smile to her face. Plus, it'll show her that the sentimentality of a letter can't be beaten.
Read Some Books
Books are one of the easiest ways to teach children about the world around them. If you want them to appreciate women and all they've done for history, make sure you're buying books written by women for girls who want to know more about how far women have come. Try to find books by a diverse set of women, including all ages and women of color. You'll want to find books appropriate for your child's age. No matter how old they are, they can enjoy learning about the influential women of the world.
Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls: a sleepytime book that details everything a child could want to know about some of the greatest women in history.
Hidden Figures: The True Story of Four Black Women and the Space Race: a book that can teach your daughter about the Black women who helped NASA get men into space, which advocates for women in STEM and recognizing the names that are often left out of history.
Women Who Dared: 52 Stories of Fearless Daredevils, Adventurers, and Rebels: a great way to show your daughter that well-behaved women seldom make history.
Little Dreamers: Visionary Women Around the World: a book of female creators, both in art and in STEM, which is also part of a series that you can purchase.
Women in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed the World: a perfect book for a girl who's interested in entering the STEM field but needs a little more confidence.
Celebrate International Women's Day
International Women's Day has been celebrated for over a century, making it an important holiday in your life and the lives of women around you. While it might not be recognized as much as other holidays, it's still a day that your daughter should know and feel appreciated on. You might go out to lunch or explore the park or hiking trails. Find something that the two of you want to do to celebrate each other, and you'll have a day to remember.
Check Out Woman-Owned Businesses
One of the best ways to celebrate women is to look at everything they've accomplished. You should always aim to shop small, but you should also support women-owned businesses in your community. Take your daughter to these small businesses and explain to her how women can work hard to make their dreams come true. At the same time, teach her about the obstacles that initially stood in the way of women getting formal education or holding jobs like men could.
Volunteer at a Women's Shelter
Women's shelters are excellent ways to teach your daughter how to help others, as well as how to give back to her community. Volunteering can help you get to know more about the city you live in, especially if you recently moved somewhere new. After volunteering together, you can teach your daughter how women have overcome obstacles in the past.
Celebrate Womanhood Every Day
Teaching your daughter the importance of women's history can help her feel more confident and understand just how crucial women have been in the past and will continue to be as time goes on. Remember that celebrating women's history shouldn't just be on a specific day. You can celebrate the past figures who have paved the way for women. Doing so can encourage your daughter to become whoever she wants to be.
Cora Gold is the Editor-in-Chief of women’s lifestyle magazine, Revivalist. She has a passion for writing about ways to live a happy, healthy, and fulfilling life, especially for new moms.
