FACILITATORS

Fathers Celebrating Daughters

Join us for a special workshop for fathers of daughters

Fathers have a special and important role to play as their daughters metamorphose from little girls through puberty to menstruating and fertile young women. Are you ready? Are you overwhelmed? Or are you sailing through? Expect a lively and quite possibly enlightening discussion with many great tips and ideas for fathers wishing to open and maintain conversations with their daughters.

This 2.5 hour immersion will give you tools and understanding to transform your relationship with your daughter.

Fathers Celebrating Daughters was created by Jane Bennett in response to the requests of men wanting to understand and support their daughters through their tween and teen years, especially in a climate of parenting advice that has tended to diminish a father’s role or offer only the most general homilies.

Just for dads, this workshop has been attended by fathers of daughters of all ages, from little girls to older teenagers and beyond. Working with the age of daughters and the interests and concerns of attendees, facilitators shape the workshop to suit the needs and concerns of those present. However, in the main this workshop has been held for men whose daughters are approaching or traversing puberty. Very often this workshop is scheduled for shortly before, or soon after, A Celebration Day for Girls at a school or in a community.

Fathers Celebrating Daughters topics include:

  • Understanding and supporting girl’s changes of puberty and menarche
  • What is A Celebration Day for Girls, and what is a father’s role at this time?
  • Understanding and mitigating the sexualisation of girls by media, advertising and the online world, including pornography
  • Supporting self esteem, positive body image and healthy relationships
  • How to share your values with your daughter, and listen to hers
  • How to share a positive, respectful, loving and connected view of sex, and most importantly, consent
  • PMS, menstruation, cramps – helping girls toward menstrual wellbeing
  • Great tips for ways to staying connected and relevant to your daughter, and enjoy each other’s company!

 

 

Contact your nearest Fathers Celebrating Daughters facilitator to schedule a workshop for your school or community (see below). If you’re keen to become a Fathers Celebrating Daughters facilitator see here for info about how you can fulfill this exciting and worthy dream.

Dads are important. More than you know.

“Many fathers (particularly of teen girls) assume they have little influence over their daughters – certainly less influence than their daughters’ peers or pop culture – and think their daughters need to figure out life on their own. But your daughter faces a world markedly different from the one you did growing up: it’s less friendly, morally unmoored, and even outright dangerous.

“When she’s in your company, your daughter tries harder to excel. When you teach her, she learns more rapidly. When you guide her, she gains confidence.

“A lot of research has been done on this – and fathers always come out on top. The effects of loving, caring fathers on their daughters’ lives can be measured in girls of all ages.” Dr Meg Meeker

 

Benefits for young girls with supportive dads

  • Toddlers securely attached to fathers are better at solving problems.
  • Girls whose fathers provide warmth and clear boundaries achieve higher academic success.
  • Girls who are close to their fathers exhibit less anxiety and withdrawn behaviours.

 

Benefits for older girls with supportive dads

  • Girls with doting fathers are more assertive.
  • Daughters who perceive that their fathers care a lot about them, who feel connected to their fathers, have significantly fewer suicide attempts and fewer instances of body dissatisfaction, depression, low self-esteem, substance abuse, and unhealthy weight.
  • Girls with involved fathers are twice as likely to stay in school.
  • A daughter’s self-esteem is best predicted by her father’s physical affection.
  • Girls with fathers who are involved in their lives have higher quantitative and verbal skills and higher intellectual functioning.
  • Fathers help daughters become more competent, more achievement-oriented, and more successful.
  • Girls have a lower risk of unplanned teen pregnancy if their father lives at home.

We now know that fathers have a great deal of influence over these outcomes, and that a modicum of understanding and thoughtful planning can make a significant difference for you and your daughter.

Research quoted from Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters: 10 Secrets every father should know by Dr Meg Meeker

 

Find a Fathers Celebrating Daughters facilitator in the countries below: