Resources for Parents

Ideas

• Explicitly encourage your daughter in science, engineering, math, and other non-traditional areas. Ask her what she likes about these classes or experiences.
   
• Encourage persistence. These topics can be hard, but your daughter will feel a sense of accomplishment from working through confusion or difficulty and eventually solving the problem.
   
• Examine your own assumptions. Could you be unconsciously reinforcing stereotypes about women not belonging in the sciences?
   
• Have high expectations for your daughter. Children rise to meet expectations.
   
• Praise your daughter when she does well, no matter what the domain. Girls will sometimes discount their strengths.
   
• Support your daughter's participation in STEM activities. Allow her to join groups such as robotics clubs, get dirty exploring her environment.
   
• Point out the many places where women are visibly working in STEM. There are biographies of female engineers and scientists, women technologists in the news, etc.
   
• Take your daughter to science museums and exhibits. They're fun!
   
• Problem solving is an important skill and one that is emphasized in STEM disciplines. Help your daughter learn to solve problems.