7 Things To Tell Your Daughter When She Is 10

Waniya is my rainbow baby and a blessing I always prayed for. I am always charmed by her persona, grace, and warmth. As much as I want her to be ready for the real world, I struggle to provide her with the best tools to do well. I try to give her nuggets of practical wisdom to help prepare her for life. I think of it as my utmost responsibility to help her navigate the incredibly long process of growing up because it’s a life-long event, and she will always be my baby.

Here are 7 important things to tell your daughter when she turns 10.

1. Never Stop Reading

Tell your daughter that reading increases knowledge, and knowledge is a power that aids in understanding ourselves, others, and the world in a better way. Arm and equip your daughter with the best weapon and a good friend. And that is a book. Tell her that reading sparks creativity, accelerates brain power, promotes concentration, boosts thinking, molds perspectives, nourishes souls, and knocks stress.

2. Be Yourself

Tell your daughter it is possible to just ‘be yourself’. For her, ‘this is who I am!‘ should be the only story. Tell her that pleasing others can be nice, but she should also know where her boundaries are. She should not constantly be wondering about what others are thinking and should not be caring much about being accepted by others. Tell her to appreciate herself and be confident in who she is.

3. Happiness Is The New Rich

Happiness is a sense of well-being, joy, and contentment, and your daughter should freely pursue happiness and live life in a way that makes her happy, as long as it’s under the boundaries demarcated. Tell her it’s important to be happy and content to be successful and victorious.

4. Things Are Just Things

Tell her that things are just things and stuff is just stuff. Getting attached to material things is normal, but not seeing anything other than them isn’t. Tell her that sometimes letting go is for the betterment.

5. You Have The Power

Tell her she and her opinion matters. Tell her she carries the power to stir the world. Tell her that she as a person is more than enough. Tell her that one can be anything but can’t be everything. Tell her that nobody is perfect and our imperfections make us special. Tell her that no one else is her, and that is her superpower.

6. Not Everyone Is A Friend

Having lots of friends may give you the illusion that everybody around you cares, but the truth is that not everyone is your friend. Tell her not everybody you meet is meant to become your friend. Some people are just transient visitors in your life. There would be only a few people that will grow to become your true friends. Tell her that just because someone smiles on your face doesn’t make them your friend. Tell her some people will seek to use her. Tell her some girls can be mean too. Normalize using words like classmate, acquaintance, old schoolmate, and neighbor to address someone because not everyone is a friend.

7. I Love You No Matter What

Tell her that she can tell you anything and everything. Anytime. Anywhere. Always. Tell her that you love her and understand her. Tell her that you have been there and know how she feels. Tell her the world hasn’t changed much since you were her age. Really. It hasn’t.

In this realm of continuously changing standards and practices, one needs to be an advocate for their daughters and support them in and out of school. We should always be there to pull them up when they fall within these cracks. Be an example for her that she wishes to be like. Remember! Behind every young girl who believes in herself is a parent who believed first.

To our little girls,

~ QuratulAin Hamza