5 Tips Build Strong Mother Daughter Relationship

Mothers and daughters have an intense relationship that's often complex and sometimes challenging. These simple tools will help you strengthen the mother-daughter bond.The mother-daughter connection is like none other. It’s an intense, special bond that is instrumental in the lives of both. Sadly, it can also be complex, challenging, and even toxic. A dysfunctional mother-daughter relationship can adversely affect both parties for the rest of their lives.

* Encourage and develop your daughter’s emotional education

The first step toward strengthening your child’s ability to manage strong relationship emotions is to teach her to identify and understand them. Emotional intelligence refers to the ability to identify and manage one’s own emotions, as well as those of others. It's extremely important when fostering your relationship with your daughter.

* Listen

Communication often feels like a one way street during adolescence. Our once talkative children who shared everything with us suddenly go silent. Or perhaps, like me, you’ve been blessed with a child who has more of a flare for dramatics. Then you may find yourself with a yelling and fuming hormonal Tasmanian devil swirling about your household.

Whatever packaging your tween or teen comes in, their mood swings, apathy and disrespectful attitudes can make you want to shake some sense into them. What most parents typically resort to instead is lectures. Boring, never ending, condescending lectures that our tweens and teens tune out at the 30 second mark.

* One on One Time

Trying to get a spot on her busy social calendar may be a challenge, but she does want to spend time with you. It’s just a matter of being open and grabbing the moments when they present themselves.

I’m not much of a runner, but when my daughter pokes her head in my room and says, “Mom, want to go for a run?” I know what she is really asking is, “Want to come spend some time with me?” It’s not my first choice, but you bet I set aside what I’m doing, even when it feels like I don’t have time, and lace up my old tennis shoes.

* Take an Interest in Her Interests

You may not find the music she listens to particularly appealing and that reality show that she’s gotten sucked into may seem downright stupid. But building a bond is about bridging what feels like an ever widening chasm between you and her. One way to do this is to pay attention to what she’s into these days.

Notice the things she’s excited about and the ways she likes to spend her time. Then be open and willing to learn more.

* Fashion

Our tween and teen daughters often dismiss so much about us as being out of touch and old fashioned. Yet somehow we’ll find them constantly wanting to borrow everything from our cute teal tank top to our stylish leopard print flats or even our brand new silver feather pendant necklace.Yes, the other day I went to put on one of the new necklaces I’d recently purchased and was not surprised to find it missing.

Suddenly with this purchase, my “hip mom” status went up a few notches. So, I jumped on this chance for a little mother/daughter bonding and let her raid my closet for other fun fashion finds. I didn’t make any comments about her choices, I just admired how she put her own personal flare on my wardrobe staples.