Every parent wants to see their kid thrive and become prosperous in life. However, it is not easy to survive in today’s challenging times. Parents need to prepare their teens so they can effectively deal with all the travails, failures and disputes that life may throw at them.
Parents can use their own invaluable experience and knowledge to impart life lessons to their kids so they can be fully capable of managing their affairs with confidence, even without the active support of parents later on in life.
See some list of things we think you should teach your girl child
1. Menstruation Education: How to handle their pads and calculate their menstrual cycle: Menstrual Education is one of the essential things you should teach a girl child when they are approaching adulthood. It is an essential aspect of hygiene for women and adolescent girls.
Your girls should know how to use their pads and tampons, and how to handle them. See some guidelines on how to dispose of pads and tampons Best hygienic ways to dispose of menstrual pads, tampons
During your period, some tips that can help them through. Stop Doing These During Your Period
Also, calculating the menstrual cycle is the thing you need to teach your girls, especially those already active sexually. Kindly note that the menstrual cycle can inform you a lot about your health. Regular periods between puberty and menopause mean your body is working well.
The usual menstrual cycle is 28 days long, but each woman is different. Also, a woman’s menstrual cycle length might be different from month to month. Your periods are still “regular” if they usually come every 24 to 38 days.
It means that the time from the first day of your last period up to the start of your next period is at least 24 days but not more than 38 days.
Some women’s periods are so regular that they can predict the day and time that their periods will start. Other women are regular but can only predict the start of their period within a few days.
2. Cleaning up after using the toilet
Funny enough, many people think this is not necessary. I bet, you are not doing the right thing if you don’t tell them how to clean up after using the toilet at home or in public.
There’s a lack of consistent knowledge out there when it comes to toilet hygiene. The right routine can have an impact on your health and comfort, kindly take note.
Not wiping properly after using the toilet can increase the risk for urinary tract infections (UTIs) and spread bacteria that can cause sickness. Improper wiping can also cause anal discomfort and itching and so on.
Wiping from back to front, is it ideal?
It depends. While it might feel easier and recommended to wipe from front to back, wiping from back to the front could easily increase your risk for transferring bacteria to your urethra.
This means your chances of spreading bacteria to your urethra, which can cause a UTI, are a lot higher.
And if you need to wipe more frequent due to some health challenges at that moment (Diarrhea), consider switching to wet toilet paper or unscented baby wipes. Moist wipes decrease the friction of wiping and cause less irritation, and they can also help you avoid an itchy butt.
3. Sex education is most importantly necessary. It teaches the knowledge and understanding of our bodies in their natural sexuality.
It simply means teaching young people to know how their bodies work and to take care of them. It also teaches open, shame-free conversations. See this for more knowledge on sex education Female Sex Education: Many Unanswered Questions
4. Emotional Stability and Mood Swing
If you’ve ever felt angry or frustrated within moments of feeling happy or elated, you may have experienced a shift in mood, these sudden and dramatic changes in emotion may seem as if they come on for no reason.
Many conditions and lifestyle choices can cause women to experience severe mood changes. One which we are to discuss is Premenstrual syndrome. Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) occurs in women 1 to 2 weeks before a period.
90% of women experience some PMS-like symptoms before their periods. The severity of these symptoms may change from month to month.
They may get worse or improve with age. Letting your teen aware of this would help them put it together to have a balanced mood.
5. Fashion sense; Wearing makeup and how to dress properly
We are in the 21 century, and every Gen Z wants to look appealing to the opposite sex. Some tips on how to dress appropriately, how to put on makeup, should be taught. You wouldn’t love to see your girl wearing iro and Buba for a dinner date/party.
You might think this does not matter, but it adds up when they keep growing. Colour combination as well should be a thing they need to know, we don’t want to see rainbows flying in the street daily. Lolz
Lastly, you should let them know that dressing to impress should not be the goal always. Let them learn how to dress to feel comfortable in what they are putting on.
Some ladies would say, oh, I don’t like showing my boobs on dresses, while some would say I like it.
Some would prefer showing their belly button and not their boobs and, so on. They should always learn how to balance things up early with your help, so peer pressure won’t influence their fashion sense. Click here for more guides. Makeup Kits for Beginners
6. Communication: This is Key!!!
Your teen should learn how to communicate with you more often and efficiently without feeling shy or not knowing how to express herself.
As easy as it is, a lack of communication can hurt your girl badly. First, you should make your girl child feel comfortable talking to you always.
Make her your best gist partner, tell her things so she can grow the confidence to confide in you, this is very important. A lot of rape cases are out there without the mother knowledge.
Some girls might be going through bullying or body shaming in schools or in the environment and they don’t feel comfortable disusing this. Learning how to put your emotion together and communicate is a skill we all need to develop as adults and teens.
Properly communication skills can save your girl from attacks from strangers, make them express their feeling if they are hurt anytime, and it can make them maintain their ground when Mr toaster comes and they are not interested.
Some guys take some behaviour signal as a go-ahead to touch them. Affirming their stand through communication would help them from these menaces.
Also, in the corporate environment (where you have families, friends, or your colleagues at work etc) around, your kid should learn how to speak well, though we always leave that to formal education.
7. Self-independence:
What makes you independent? Being a strong, independent woman means that you are able to find happiness on your own. You have self-confidence without having to rely on another person or society for validation. A lot of kids out there are not sure of themselves.
The inferiority complex has overshadowed some to the extent that they seek validations from the internet or from the peer group. Independence in thought and behaviour should be what our teens learn.
We have a couple of writeups on being Self-independence. Kindly check through this link to read up. Female independence: How do you know you are independent? Female Independence: Are You Truly Independent?
