Girls are so refreshing to have in any home. Well, don’t get me wrong, male children are just as delightful, but… let’s just talk girls here.
The girl child brings beauty, grace and warmth, and that’s immediately evident in her environment. What might be less visible are those other attributes that she carries innately – strength, loyalty, fostering, to name a few. She’s attentive to details, can plan and achieve for herself and her community of persons.
A wholesome woman is a powerhouse. For a society to harness the wealth of qualities in her, her nurturing must be strategic. She must be guarded and tended wisely, well fed, well taught and adequately reinforced. She cannot happen on us, we have to cultivate our girls to this form, but what a harvest awaits when we do!
Ten tips to build a Whole Woman:
- Give birth to her only when there is a plan to care adequately for her. Childbearing activities should consider child-rearing responsibilities. This ought to be groomed into all our children as they approach puberty.
- Make every provision to ensure her survival – adequate antenatal, perinatal and post-natal care, immunization, nutritional and medical provision. Ensure she gets good nutrition with lots of protein and other good quality foods.
- Educate her as much as possible. Emphasise important values; let her know that her intellect is needed in this world and that she can excel in every subject, not just home economics!
- Protect her from practices that infringe on her rights not to be exploited or abused in any form, physically, emotionally, sexually or economically. She should understand her sexuality and its vulnerability so that she can comport herself with dignity and elegance in all her relationships.
- Institute preventive strategies, especially education, for diseases that tend to women, such as Rubella, HIV/AIDS, Serum Hepatitis, Cervical Cancer, Breast Cancer.
- Build her mind, open her to pursuits that increase her creativity, curiousity and sense of accomplishment: music, sports, travel. She must see her own worth and expect to be respected and valued.
- Open her up to service. Find people with less privilege and encourage her sustained interest in the welfare of others.
- Listen to her; give her voice to her thoughts. She must be able to speak for herself and for others. Encourage healthy debates on important societal issues.
- Teach her that uprightness, service and integrity are prime pillars. No cutting corners, no cheating, she must learn to take pride in substance and true achievement, not merely in appearances.
- Help her to see that humility will bring it all together. Confidence in wholesomeness makes her humble, not arrogant.
Wherever a point indicates teaching, remember that you are her mirror and must teach by example. That woman around you is a special endowment for accelerated progress in any sphere of human life she chooses. Don’t let her beauty and grace deceive you, she is not merely ornamental. Encourage and equip her and the rewards will astound you.
