Raising daughters

A little while ago I attended a talk at my daughter's school entitled "Girls Will Be Girls: Raising Courageous and Confident Daughters" led by Dr. JoAnn Deak, an educator, school psychologist and author. It was a lively discussion which the speaker began with a series of true/false questions designed to identify common misconceptions about physiology and intelligence, as well as gender differences between boys and girls. It was novel approach to a subject that might have taken days to discuss rather than two hours.

What new piece of knowledge did I glean from the meeting? Much of what we practice as a parental unit was confirmed: to push our daughter in areas she finds difficult, ensure she gets good, productive sleep, drinks plenty of water, and is encouraged to excel but without effusive, and therefore eventually meaningless, praise. I did not know, however, that current brain research indicates that adolescents (10-20) need a good long time to fall into productive sleep and therefore should be permitted to sleep as late as possible. How I will remember in two years' time to allow Kassie an extra few moments in bed on school mornings is beyond me; and rather than to pester her to eat her cereal or bagel (which we do now), instead shove a Nutri-Grain bar and a bottle of water at her as she exits the house.