If there is one thing that every parent should celebrate it’s their daughters. Of course, we celebrate our sons and the love that they bring into my life, but there’s nothing quite like the bond between a father and daughter or a mother and daughter. 

Often, the mother-daughter bond is cemented by things like name bracelets and matching necklaces. But the true mother and daughter or father and daughter bond are cemented just by the love for one another. If you are looking for ways to show your daughter some love to share, you’re in a good place because we’ve got five ways that you can actively start to do that.

• Actively listening. We are living in quite precarious times right now in the US, which means that we need to be paying attention to our daughters and how they are feeling. You need to be an example of active listening, so when your daughter comes to speak with you even if it’s about something superficial or in your mind minimal, put down what you’re doing and give her your full attention. When you make an effort to actually listen to your daughter, you are sending a big message that what she has to say is important. She will remember this.
• Validate her feelings. Do you remember being an awkward or insecure teenager? The chances are you know what it’s like to feel like you’re on the outside of your friendship group, or your body isn’t growing in the right way. The feelings that your daughters have may seem dramatic or over the top to you sometimes, but that doesn’t mean that her feelings aren’t real or valid to her. Make sure that you show her that you love her by validating her feelings and making sure that she knows that you believe in her.
• Be interested. Don’t just wait for your daughter to come to you to talk, let your daughter know that you care about her by asking her about her day or what she’s done with her friends. The more you pay attention and show interest in what she has to say, the more she will open up to you and trust you as a source of comfort.
• Thank her. The likelihood is that your daughter has chores to do in the house, so when you lay down those chores for her to do, make sure you thank her for her time. Of course, as a parent, everything you do in the house is rather thankless in general, but you want to instill positive behavior in your children so if you show that you are grateful for the help and their input, they would want to be motivated to help some more.
• Don’t judge. The worst thing a parent can do for their daughter is judge the way they are living. You don’t ever have to agree with any way that your child is living their life, whether they are teenagers or whether they’re in their 20s. The point is you want to be supportive and only offer advice when asked.