PARENTHOOD, a CHALLENGE - the BIBLE, a GUIDESample

Ephesians 5:33 (NLT): So again, I say, each man must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

Psalm 139:13-14 (NLT): You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.

Ideas for raising girls today

Eras go by, and fortunately, women's status has improved; they have become freer. That is great if we take the time to define what "free" means.

A liberated woman is not a dominant woman who needs to crush the men around her to "get there." A liberated woman is a woman who has understood her worth, has had the opportunity to develop her abilities in a fulfilling way, and is pursuing her dreams.

A conversation a friend of ours had with a pornographic film producer during a plane ride had a profound effect on us. To answer our friend's question, "How do you recruit actresses?" the producer replied, "It's straightforward; we look for girls who suffer from a father wound."

Unfortunately, this wound of the father, of identity, is still all too often the daily reality of formidable women wounded to the depths of their inner being.

We want our daughters to grow up in an environment that allows them to blossom and discover themselves without becoming castrating women or women who lack security in their identity. This battle has to be won, one day at a time, one heart at a time.

Here are a few ideas to help you get there:

• Choose her name carefully: Every time you call her name, you can bless her.
• Remind her daily that she is loved for who she is: "You are my darling daughter. What a blessing you are to us!"
• Remind her of her value in the eyes of her heavenly Father: "He created you; you are a wonderful little girl."
• Let her try out sports and artistic activities that thrill her so she can discover her limits, what she likes, and what makes her dream.
• If you are a dad, demonstrate the standards of conduct for a man with a woman by respecting and loving your wife.
• Be gallant with her, and you will be setting the bar high for your daughter's future relationships with the male gender.

Did you find this plan useful? You can go further with Parents: the manual