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10 Ways Dads Can Encourage Their Daughters’ Sports and Fitness Involvement |
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1. Go play! Shoot hoops, play catch or learn to snowboard together.
Make sports and fitness activities part of your father-daughter bonding.
2. Sensitize yourself to the gender equity profiles of the sports
programs in which she participates. Applaud the program if she is being
treated fairly, educate yourself and advocate on her behalf if she is
not.
3. Give the gift of sport. Make birthdays and holidays times to
encourage athletics by giving her new inline skates, a soccer ball or
her favorite female athlete's jersey.
4. Take her to professional and collegiate women's sporting events.
Athlete or not, she'll undoubtedly be inspired by the passion and
talent showcased in the NCAA, WNBA, WUSA, WTA, etc..
5. Applaud your daughter's positive mental and physical sporting
qualities. Encourage strength, resiliency and focus rather than
weight-consciousness, complacency and frailty.
6. Support healthy eating habits. Help her build strong muscles and
bones by providing her with a well-balanced diet. However, stay away
from the obsessive, American, diet bandwagon and don't dwell on every
bite she takes.
7. Make a concerted effort to watch women's sports on television.
Expose her to potential heroines and dreams while showing her that
there's more to sports television than Monday Night Football.
8. Be a classy spectator rather than a raging embarrassment. Leave
refereeing up to the refs, coaching up to the coaches and playing up to
the girls.
9. Believe in her. Your faith in her sporting dreams goes a long way.
10. Encourage her activism! Give her a membership to the Women's Sports Foundation -- the gift that truly keeps on giving!
Sarah J. Murray is Content Editor, WomensSportsFoundation.org
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