A mother and daughter’s relationship is particularly special. When you’re a mom, you’re entrusted with the responsibility of caring for the child, nurturing them, educating them and empowering them. When it’s a daughter you have, educating her about all aspects of health becomes extremely important. It wouldn’t just help her stay healthy and wise, but also exercise the learning in her own future family. This International Daughter’s Day, let us tell you about 5 health lessons every mother needs to teach her daughter for a better future.

As it’s rightly said, you educate a woman, you educate a generation. This really holds true when it comes to a woman’s health and wellness.

5 health lessons every mother should teach her daughter

1. Teach your daughter the importance of fitness

Start ’em young! Inculcate the importance of fitness during your daughter’s growing up years. Involve her in outdoor activities, sports, yoga and a regular exercise regime. Making exercise and workout a part of her daily routine will help you ease her life for the future as she will have better agility, strength, flexibility and less stress. These are just some of the benefits of exercise you will need to teach your daughter, who will be able to shield herself from various health disorders.

2.  A mother should inculcate healthy nutrition habits

The habit of eating healthy comes from feeding healthy. Every parent, not just the mother, is responsible for teaching a child to focus on nutrition. What you eat at home will also impact the food choices of your child – be it a daughter or son. Consuming the right food from a young age can prepare a woman for her later years in life and all the changes that her body goes through during puberty, motherhood, menopause and older age. Make sure you tell your daughter about the importance of eating a balanced diet, about adequate intake of water, the futility of junk food consumption and the need to eat fresh instead of processed foods.

3. Teach her the need to maintain sound mental health

Words of wisdom from a mother to her daughter go a long way in keeping a woman mentally strong. Experience is the best teacher, they say. So, use your own experiences to teach your daughter what it takes to be a strong, independent and resilient woman in the world. Tell her that while stress will be endless, it isn’t worth it; relationships are about ups and downs, and self-care isn’t selfish. Tell her why it’s okay to take some moments of ‘me time‘ every day. Teach her not to feel guilty about not being able to ace every role in life. She doesn’t have to! Most of all, tell her to speak up and share her concerns, troubles and stressors, with you or another confidante, instead of suppressing what she feels.

4. Educate your daughter about menstrual health

Menstrual health is crucial to every woman’s life. Ensure that you make your daughter aware about menstruation and menstrual health care in the right way, before she hits the age. Let her not be scared, surprised or shocked the first time she sees blood on her underwear or feels the agony of period cramps. Every girl deserves to know about periods in a responsible way, where they embrace it as a natural part of growing up, and not feel ashamed of it.

Also read: “I was told that periods is all the bad blood leaving your body”, says Shaheen Bhatt

5. Empower your daughter with information on sexual health

Puberty is the time when children start becoming more curious than aware about their sexual health. If you can have an open discussion about sexual health with your daughter, you will contribute towards her wholesome growth. And no, it’s not just telling her the truth about how babies are born. It’s about teaching her about the right or wrong touch, the importance of consent, their right to say ‘no’, how to take of their intimate hygiene, safe sex practices and more. If you’re not comfortable doing the talk yourself, reach out to a gynecologist, who can help you out.