Protecting Our Future – 7 Things to Share with Your Daughter

It's important to encourage healthy behaviors early to help young girls become healthy women. Young women today are confronted with many pressures and must make important choices about lifestyle behaviors, including diet, physical activity, coping with stress, and substance abuse.

Make National Women's Health Week a time to do something special, both for you and your daughter. Provide her with the support and encouragement she needs to make good health and lifestyle choices. And remember, your own health behaviors are the best example! Please try some of the suggestions below.

• Get Moving With Your Daughter
  Take a walk together after dinner, go for a bike ride, or sign up to participate in a community walk/run. Staying active together can help keep both of you motivated and healthy.



• Cook With Your Daughter
  Teach her the importance of cooking with nutritious ingredients that support growth and good health. Learn more about a healthy diet at http://www.4woman.gov/faq/diet.htm.



• De-stress With Your Daughter
  Watch a movie together, grab a book or magazine and head outside to read in the sunshine, or head to your favorite coffee shop or bakery for a small treat. Also, take this time to find out what's going on in her life and share a personal story or experience.



• Tell Your Daughter About http://www.4girls.gov
  This is a Web site developed by the Department of Health and Human Services' Office on Women's Health that provides girls with reliable, current, and age-appropriate health information. The site focuses on health topics that respond to adolescent girls' health concerns, including:

Body Fitness Peer pressure Suicide Self-esteem	Nutrition Bullying Safety Relationships Drugs & Alcohol
Other topics all in an interactive, user-friendly format.

• Take Your Daughter to Your Preventive Screening
  Teach her the importance of regular, preventive exams by setting a good example and making an appointment with your health care provider. Getting regular check-ups, preventive screening tests, and immunizations are among the most important things you can do for yourself. Learn what screening tests and immunizations you need at http://www.4woman.gov/screeningcharts/screenings-general.pdf.



• Take Time to Celebrate Your Daughter
  Make her feel special with words of encouragement or affirmations, and take the time to discover and support her interests.



• Teach Your Daughter the Importance of Staying Safe
  Visit http://www.4girls.gov/4girls.cfm?page=safety/index.htm and take these safety quizzes with your daughter.