Her Own Daughter

I honestly feel like I was born to parent girls, which is why nothing annoys me more than someone doing the whole "Ooh, two girls? You are so in for it! But it can feel like walking a tightrope. On the one hand, I'm thrilled for their future.

The Daily Dish

Women are graduating with more advanced degrees than ever before and have more female role models in just about every public sphere you can think of. While girls' levels of academic achievement have risen to the point that they now outperform boys consistently, their rates of stress, anxiety, and depression have risen as well. A study by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration found the girls to have three times the number of depressive episodes as the boys, and the rate at which girls reported feeling depressed nearly tripled in just one year.

In other words, while girls are doing everything possible to be all that they can, they're not enjoying it. Like you, I want my daughters to have boundless opportunity. But more than that, I want them to be happy—and a big part of that means making sure that they're ready for whatever challenges they'll someday face. In that spirit, I spoke to some of the biggest change-makers in our country—people who are leading the charge to make sure girls enter adulthood feeling good about themselves—to find out what parents can do to help their daughters thrive.

Now I'm sharing what I learned. We don't always hear fathers' thoughts about feminism It can be easy to forget that parents, particularly mothers, are a powerful influence. Even teenagers, whom we assume are easily swayed by peer pressure , say that their mom matters most: Only 15 percent go to their friends first for advice. Younger girls are even more reliant on Mom: Chances are you're everything to your daughter—including her biggest role model. Report after report finds that the way a mother acts in front of her daughter largely influences the child's behavior, and there are ways to model a healthy self-image that benefit both of you.

First, watch what you say, especially gossip. My 8-year-old uses baby talk when she's unsure about something, and I remind her that she has important things to say and people may not take her seriously if she uses that voice. One way to flip the script? When your daughter sees you go out for a run, or you dance in the living room together or help her scale a rock wall at the playground, you're teaching her to love her body.

Finally, as important as Mom is, the significance of Dad or a father figure can't be understated. One-on-one time is crucial: But pulling her into the menial—grocery shopping together, washing the car—shows that you value her company in the context of your life.

All right, brace yourself: Between elementary and high school, a girl's self-esteem drops 3. Encourage your young daughter's individuality, and you'll lay a foundation that will be her emotional scaffolding as she enters the trickier tween and teen years.

Cast a wide net when encouraging your daughter to discover her passions. During a trip to the library, don't nudge her toward Pinkalicious. Even if she's the girly-girl type, who's to say she wouldn't also love a world atlas? Instead of signing her up for gymnastics because it's the popular choice, present a range of options and see what she picks.

Once she shows an interest in something, give her lots of chances to explore it. A "special verdict" was returned after members of the jury heard from psychiatrists from both the prosecution and defence. In a two-day trial, the court heard there was no dispute the mother had killed her child or about the events leading up to the girl's death. Amelia was found by her teenage brother on 8 June.

She had been wrapped in a sheet and placed on a table in the family's garden. Neighbours heard screaming and went into the street to find Harris's older children visibly distressed. Megan Griffiths, who lives nearby, said she saw Harris standing in the front garden looking "dazed" as the defendant told her: The angels have taken her.

She called the police and went into Harris's back garden to find Amelia's charred remains lying on a coffee table and covered with a sheet. Jurors were told one of Harris's two sons had said his mother had "not been well" for about six weeks before the incident.

Pathologist Dr Richard Jones found Amelia had died from drowning and was already dead when she was set alight. Although Harris had taken "small amounts" of amphetamines before the incident, experts agreed the mother had not been suffering from a drug-induced psychosis. Dr Arden Tomison said Harris was suffering from an "abnormality of mental function which substantially impaired her ability to form a rational judgement". He said Harris appeared to have experienced "paranoid and religious delusions" and believed she needed to kill her daughter as part of a test from God, who would then return Amelia to her.

More than , people have signed the petition - have you? When Harris was examined a month ago, she was still in firm belief that she had to kill her child to protect her and save the world, the court was told.

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Despite efforts to control her psychosis at a secure institution, Dr Tomison said she still believed there had been a "terrible mistake". She was very sure she had been instructed by God.