Since my daughter was born, I've spent a lot of time focusing on how I, as a mother, can help support and empower her throughout her life. I was very lucky and was raised by a mom who was a feminist in a traditionally patriarchal community and she openly raised her daughters to be the same. As I grew up, I really appreciated that strength and belief in ourselves that she instilled in me. It was really awesome being raised by someone who said, “Hey, you love musical theater and you're good at it? Cool. I don't mind driving 2 hours round trip several times a week so that you can perform with the nearest theater group 60 miles away.”. It's stuff like that that shows a kid they are important and have worth. Would you like to be that kind of mom? Here's 5 ways that I'm supporting and empowering my daughter with a little help from Halestorm (a GRAMMY® Award-winning hard rock band.)!
I was inspired to share this list after watching Halestorm’s “Dear Daughter” music video on YouTube. I found myself tearing up as I listened to the lyrics about being a Mom of a daughter growing up in today’s world. Really, ANY mother will connect with the heartfelt and inspirational message from Lzzy Hale and her band Halestorm’s new video for “Dear Daughter”. If you're looking for simple and easy ways that you, as a mom, can help support and empower your daughter on her quest to follow her dreams – here's a little inspiration:
- Listen to her. It's so simple, yet so hard but a huge part of feeling like you matter is having someone listen to your thoughts. So, when your daughter talks to you, don't just hear what she's saying or be thinking about what you're going to say next – really LISTEN.
- Encourage her in her hobbies. Do the best you can (I know some of them can be expensive!) but, when your daughter and her younger brother tell you that they want to start a rock band in your garage (like Halestorm lead singer Lzzy Hale and younger brother Arejay did to their parents), just say yes. Sure- have some guidelines and rules in place but say YES. As Lzzy Hale has said about that garage band, “If it wasn’t for my parents’ support we would have never started the band as early as we did. And we probably wouldn’t have gotten to this point.”.
- Be open about empowering yourself and other woman. Your daughter needs to SEE and HEAR you talking positively about yourself and women in general. Does that mean that you have to like and agree with all females? No. But it does mean that your daughter can hear you when you say negative things about your body or gossip about that other mom at the grocery store. Now, more than ever, the world needs moms who are living examples of the ideals and message in Halestorm's “Dear Daughter”. It’s a message of support and empowerment that should be conveyed to all children by their loved ones.
- Support and share inspirational women. Representation matters. If your daughter loves music and sees amazing women, like Lzzy Hale, or loves coding and wants to know if there are female developers at Google, then show her. Supporting females who are inspirations to girls of all ages who have big dreams is supporting a better and stronger world.
- Join her. Find something that she loves and share it with her. Read her favorite book series, learn to play guitar with her, take a mobile applications class and figure out coding. If you show her that you support her hobbies then it will validate her entire world. Empowerment through the act of caring is vital to a girl's development. You don't have to participate in every hobby but be there for at least one.
Right now, you can enter to win one of ten (10) Halestorm Merchandise Prize Packages by completing social media actions below from April 25 – May 16. I-C will randomly select winners from all program entries and will facilitate fulfillment of the winning prizes (10).