National Daughter Day gives you a chance to celebrate your daughter and everything she represents.
Daughters are kind and gentle and filled with emotions. They have built-in motherly instincts and jump to help care for family members in need. They love cheerfully and unconditionally, and they always want to make their parents proud.
There is no better way to show your daughter how much she means to you than by sharing in the joy of this special day with a thoughtful gift or kind gesture.
The day allows you to thank your daughter for being everything that she is. It is a simple way of saying how much you love her, respect her and appreciate all she does for your family.
People celebrate on this day to show how important and unique the bond is between them and their daughters. These celebrations include taking your daughter out for a mother-daughter lunch or spending the whole day shopping together.
But do you know much about why the day of celebrations came to be?
National Daughter's Day concept dates back to 1936 when J Henry Dusenberry proposed the day of observation after listening to a child question why no such day existed.
This was such a big deal for women.
Women had to fight so much to get recognized for their contributions to society. In 1936 women had only been voting for 16 years, so this was a huge turning point in gender discrimination.
This would give daughters a chance everywhere to be honored, just as the families honored their sons.
Many countries like India needed a day like this to help combat the gender imbalance plaguing their population. It was a well-known problem that parents preferred sons, and this helped change the stigma that boys were better.
Dusenberry was determined to create the official day, and through many efforts, he did so. Missouri was the first state to start the holiday.
Parents would put a flower for each child they had in a special vase and then placed the vase in the most significant room in the house. The flowers were to help parents think about their children, especially those who didn't live at home anymore.
In 1945, 22 states had chosen to recognize the day and were celebrating it. More organizations would begin to adopt the cause throughout the years, but it was celebrated on different days. It was observed from January to September with no actual marked day.
Now the regular observance is celebrated on the fourth Sunday in September.
If you're looking to celebrate on more than just one occasion throughout the year, you have plenty of other opportunities. There are several other national days for celebrating daughters as well.
- National Sons & Daughters Day, August 11th
- World Daughters Day, September 28th
- International Day of the Girl Child, October 11th
- Princess Day, November 18th
If you have never celebrated any special days, there is no time like now to start a new tradition, whether it's just you and her or a family affair.
What are some ways you can celebrate daughters day?
- Sharing advice or wisdom with them
- Treat them to a special lunch or dinner
- Make her breakfast in bed
- Go through old photo albums and share stories from her childhood
- Go to a painting class together
- Take a walk in her favorite park or garden
- Decorate her room with flowers and streamers
- Teach her a family recipe and cook together
If you have a young daughter, spend the day playing her favorite games, braid her hair, take her to a playground have a picnic.
No matter what age your daughter is, treat her the way you want the world to treat her, show her kindness, empathy, and love.
It's essential to make your daughter know she has value in the family. They are, after all, the ones who will help you with chores more so than your sons will. Daughters aged five to nine spend on average 30 percent more time doing chores than sons globally.
Also, a daughter is likely to take on the characteristics of her mother. Teach her traits that will help in later life, such as humility, friendliness and other good qualities. When a daughter and her mother are close, it is easier for daughters, in general, to stay away from trouble such as drugs or drinking. Use the day to share your past experiences with her and listen to what her goals are for the future.
If she is a teen, take the opportunity to interview her. Ask her what her goals are in life, her interests, her own advice for the future, and document it for her to reflect on later in life.
Brag about your daughter on National Daughter Day on social media. Snap a picture with her, share her accomplishments because this is another area where daughters tend to get left out.
A survey analyzed posts from 635,665 users and found that parents tend to mention their sons more often than their daughters on social media, and the posts about sons get more likes.
It could be argued that the reason for the higher engagement is that people just aren't used to seeing posts about the users' daughter. Regardless, as parents, we need to do better with our daughters and shout how proud we are of them from the rooftops for the world to hear.
Your daughter needs to know that there is no preference over her or her brother, and she is just as important as he is.
Your son should know that his sister is just as deserving of love and attention as he is, and not just any "lesser" version of himself. This will help promote equality between siblings in which they both feel like they are essential members of the family.
While material gifts are always well-received, what is important is just spending quality time together, your daughter will enjoy being the center of attention for the day.
Just remember it should also be up to your daughter to choose how to celebrate the day.
