“The biggest adventure you can take is to live the life of your dreams”. This statement comes from none other than the woman who has actually converted all her dreams into reality – Opray Winfrey.
Dreams have the capacity to change a girl’s life to the best. Ask every successful and happy woman today what she thinks is the single factor behind her success. She would definitely agree that it was her ability to believe in her dreams and her efforts to achieve them which brought that happiness and achievements in her life.
India today is going through a transformation where male chauvinistic values which suppressed girls are getting thrown out. Where earlier divorced women were looked down upon, today we see single mothers who decide to have children out of wedlock. It is an amazing time where girls are encouraged to dream big and fulfill them with their consistency and hard work. Even traditional families are more supportive and are giving the girls the freedom to choose their own life. Living alone, working in different cities and countries, starting businesses – girls today can do anything with right attitude and strong support system. Women like Chanda Kochar, Mary Kom, Saina Nehwal, Sushmita Sen come out of the same support system and values.
Any girl from any of the ordinary families can become one like these strong women. So for this to happen, parents should definitely make sure that they follow and allow the below seven things.
Have a dream
A girl cannot understand the meaning of dreams and its implications in life, if she doesn’t have a first-hand experience of it herself. Specially, a girl always looks up to the mother and follows her in every which way possible. So its important that a mother has a dream herself. Be it a small thing like going on a holiday to a bigger one like owning a house, everything counts. And the daughter will definitely absorb the way her mother pursues her dreams and try to imitate it in her life.
Emphasis the importance of dreaming
Just like one cannot study without a time table one cannot achieve anything without a dream. Dream is the basic infrastructure for living a mentally healthy and happy life. And only if your girl has the basic foundation right, she can start constructing her life the way she wants. Once she has her life visualized in her head, she can actually start working towards accomplishing it.
Give examples
Every girl has that one female idol whom she looks up to, one favorite actor and one woman achiever as a favorite. So if she has to understand the importance of dreaming, she will need a real person with flesh and bones to which she can relate. Its always a good practice to give examples. Tell her how Priyanka Chopra could achieve such a huge success because she dreamt big.
Give her time off
This is a very important factor. In today’s mechanical world where every hour everyday is planned and spent in school, classes, activities, etc, its difficult to take a time off. But consciously make an effort to take out some time from the routine. Let your daughter’s mind wander in the life of her dreams and ask her to imagine the craziest and wildest things she can. This will not only give speed to her thoughts but will also accelerate her creativity and concentration.
Let her make mistakes
Mistakes are unavoidable on the path of success. So if you feel that your girl is trying to walk on the path of her dreams, she is bound to make mistakes. Be patient and ignore her little goof-ups as long as she is safe. She cant learn to walk unless she falls a little. Only with her mistakes, she will learn control and develop a good judgment.
Ask questions. Give opinions. Communicate
Young girls, especially the teens are a confused lot. Often they don’t understand their feelings and sometimes they are not able to articulate even if they are aware what’s happening. Your questions and discussions can help them understand their emotional state much better. It is only through regular discussions and conversations that they can give a comprehensive shape to their dream and change it into reality.
Value their opinion
This is last and the most important aspect of parenting which applies not only about dreaming but in every other aspect of the girl’s life. When you bring a beautiful girl in this world, you are obliged to give her the freedom of her choice and her opinions. However you may want your daughter to follow on your footsteps, you cannot deny that she will have her own life and her own likes and dislikes. So always respect her opinion even if you donot agree with it. This is the only way that you and your opinions will get respected by her and she will make you a part of her dream.
