How to Guide Your Teenage Daughter on Her Journey to Womanhood
Parenting can be an incredibly rewarding and sometimes challenging journey. As you watch your child grow, you have to navigate all the changing seasons of their lives. From their first steps to their graduation day, you’ll have plenty of adjustments to make in your involvement in their lives. One of those challenging scenarios that can affect every child and parent differently is adolescence.
Especially for young women, going through puberty can mean a lot of changes happening all at once. If you are parenting a teenage daughter, you’ll want to be there for her in the best way possible. Sometimes this means offering practical help buying bras or tampons, other times it will be listening to her grievances and trying to support her through drama and heartache. The journey to womanhood can involve many twists and turns. Just work to support your daughter along the way and show her how loved she is during this time of transition.
Give her a comfortable environment at home.
Help her go shopping for new items she may need.
Becoming a woman involves a number of different things. As her body changes, your daughter is going to need different items and accessories. Be her support for the first time she needs to buy tampons and pads or if she ever needs to go out for acne cream. These shopping sprees can be embarrassing for some teens, so you want to support her or just purchase the items yourself. You can also have fun with some of your shopping. Buying her first bra can actually be an exciting experience. She’ll learn how do you measure your bra size, what a cup size even means, and how certain underwire and bra fits can affect your posture. Help your daughter find the right bra for her as she starts to develop breasts.
Never judge her experiences.
As an adult, it can sometimes be hard to put yourself in your teenager’s shoes. Even though you went through the same things, it can seem like a distant memory. The key is to never judge or show apathy to your daughter’s situation. Even if you don’t understand the drama going on with Katie and Sarah over someone who’s taking Kelsey to the prom. Even if you’ve been dealing with your period for years and don’t understand her aversion to tampons. Even if you think she’s being over-dramatic, continue supporting her unconditionally. Avoid judgment and lean into positivity and encouragement.
Remember, you can’t protect her from everything.
Being a parent is a unique experience. You want to keep your children safe and prepared for anything. However, that is not necessarily practical or possible in the long run. It’s okay to step back and let your daughter figure some things out on her own. Give her the tools she needs to be successful, then let her run with it. If you continue showing her love and support through it all, you are rocking the parenting game.