Words of wisdom for young women from ages 4 to 104

11 Things to Make Your Daughter Strong
by Shirley Pierce

As I write this, my six-year-old daughter is off to school, hand-in-hand, with her father. At this time in our lives, her biggest problems are spelling tests and an unending request for "play dates".

All too soon those days will end and the problems will be bigger. Much bigger. In the blink of an eye, she will be a teen-ager and the simple spelling tests of her youth will be gone and together we will be facing tests for driver's licenses, college, drugs, pregnancy and much worse.

When I think of what lies ahead, I now embrace the tantrums of a first grader who has lost her copy of "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom".

How do I prepare her for the future? How do I throw a wall around her to protect her from the life-threatening challenges she will face the second she is out of my reach?

The answer is not to build a strong wall around her but to make her strong inside. So strong that she can withstand the gale force winds of peer pressure, boys and the media.

As a mother, I have to teach by example. Whatever I want her to be, I must be also. But when it comes to putting things in writing, I've learned to keep it short and sweet. So below are the eleven most important things I want her to know.

1) YOU ONLY GET ONE BODY - DON'T TRASH IT
2) YOUR MIND IS YOUR GUIDE - KEEP IT SHARP
3) BOYS ONLY WANT ONE THING - DON'T GIVE IT TO THEM
4) WRONG IS NEVER RIGHT
5) SET GOALS AND GO FOR IT - DON'T LET ANYTHING OR ANYONE DISTRACT YOU
6) A GOOD FRIEND WANTS ONLY WHAT'S GOOD FOR YOU
7) LISTEN TO YOUR HEAD AND NOT YOUR HEART
8) THINGS WILL GO WRONG - JUST KEEP GOING
9) WE ARE ALL CREATED EQUAL - EVERY LIFE IS DIFFERENT SO LIVE YOURS
10) GIVE OF YOURSELF
11) LOVE YOURSELF -- AS I LOVE YOU -- AND YOU CAN NEVER GO WRONG

I learned the value of most of the above lessons the hard way because my mother died when I was fourteen. She taught me what she could and the rest was learned at my own peril. I plan to be around when my daughter is in her teens and needs my sage advice. But alas, she is hard-wired to ignore most of it at first. But when the time comes I pray that she will heed it.

There's a million and one other things I want her to know but if she can master these eleven, I will breathe easier.

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