I am not an expert on the tactics for raising a confident daughter. I am just a mom who, like you, wants the best for her daughter and is researching, reading, and getting advice from other moms in order to get it.

I was not a confident girl. Honestly, I am not as confident as a woman as I want to be either. However, I’m hoping the steps I’m taking will help my girl become the strong, self-confident woman I want her to be. And I am learning how to be the role model she needs.

4 Pointers for Raising a Confident Daughter

1. Play sports.

I know firsthand the value sports can have on girls. Sure, my boys also play sports and it’s important for them too. However, it gives girls something else. Sports give girls the opportunities to be aggressive and assertive and physically strong. Now that I have a high schooler, I’ve had to encourage her to persevere despite school and peer pressure to perhaps give it up. Not on my watch!

2. Don’t let ‘that time of the month’ stop you.

When “Aunt Flo” visits, it is important to me that I don’t let it limit my daughter’s activities or aspirations. She can still go swimming and running and play outside with her brothers. I have learned recently from Always how many girls are not able to stay involved in all their activities due to ‘period poverty’.

Did you know that in the US, nearly 1 in 5 girls have missed school because they can’t afford period protection? They also miss sports practices and social activities simply because they don’t have feminine products. Can you imagine not being able to do the things you love every single month because you don’t have the money to buy you period protection?  This is enough to make me cry.

3. Failing is OK.

One thing I never really learned as a kid was that failure is OK. Not only that, it is actually beneficial. I’ve learned from other moms that one of the keys to raising a confident daughter is to teach her that it is not about how far you fall, but how quick you get up. Life is about trying, even if you fail.

4. Celebrate even the small victories.

Too often, we only celebrate big things like winning a state championship or graduating from high school or other huge, impressive, life-defining events. However, I think we should remember to celebrate the small victories too. Do you remember your first time getting through final exams? What about when you beat your personal best in a race (though you still finished in the middle of the pack)? How about getting the nerve to try out for the school play? All those things, are monumental in their own right. When raising a confident daughter, it is great to look for ways to honor the small successes in life.

How to Combat Period Poverty

Period poverty is a real problem in the United States with girls missing school and activities they love every month because they don’t have period protection. The side effects of missing out can be just as real. Whether we like to admit it or not, at puberty, girls’ confidence plummets. If you have to miss activities because of lack of access to period products, it only makes this drop in confidence worse.

Missing these activities is not just about missing out on some fun. It means missing out on instilling confidence and building useful skills others are learning those days. This can limit her potential and the opportunities she will have access to during puberty and beyond.

The good news is that there is something being done about this inequity. To help girls Always Live #LikeAGirl and #EndPeriodPoverty, Always has created initiatives to help all girls be able to fulfill her potential.Check it out. Share it. Do what you can, when you can to help girls and women.

Often I find that the first step is understanding that there is a problem, then creating a dialogue with your friends and family about the problem and finally looking for ways to combat it in your local community. Always is helping you do all three things!