Kids grow up so fast, don’t they? One day your daughter is just an innocent child, the next day she has her first boyfriend and then, before you know it, she’s talking about what she wants her wedding dress to look like. Every parent worries about their children and they hope their kids will make the right decisions, especially when it comes to a commitment as big as a marriage. You can’t dictate who your daughter will fall in love with, but you can give her the benefit of your own experience and teach her what she deserves to expect from a man. Here are ten things that moms can teach their daughters about choosing a husband that they will want to spend the rest of their lives with.
1. Don’t rush into marriage
The first thing that every daughter should understand is that a girl’s first love, as wonderful as it may be, is rarely her only love. Childhood romances that last are lovely, but if you marry too young, you could well regret it and you could miss out on a lot. Have your fun while you are young, and leave the big commitments and the responsibilities of marriage until you are really ready to settle down.
2. You don’t have to be married to be complete
It’s also important for a girl to know that getting married is not the only way to live a complete and happy life. It’s not the ring on the finger and the married status that brings happiness, it’s the people that you choose to be with and the things that you achieve.
3. Choose a man who will respect you
You can teach your daughter that many of the attributes that a man needs to be a good husband can be seen on the little things that he does early on in a relationship. If a man never arrives when he says he will for a date, then that is a sign of disrespect and you should be asking yourself if that disrespect will extend to more important things later on in the relationship. A woman deserves a man who will treat her with love, tenderness and respect.
4. Choose a man who works hard and takes his responsibilities seriously
It doesn’t matter so much what a guy does for a living, how clever he is, or how big his bank balance is, but it does matter that he takes his financial responsibilities seriously. A marriage is not just about being with the person you love, it’s also about sharing your resources and you need to be sure that the man you choose for a husband will work hard to meet his side of the financial deal.
5. Choose a man with whom you share common values and beliefs
It is also wise to choose a man with whom you have no fundamental disagreements. Things like religion and values may not seem quite so important when you are dating, but when you commit to marriage, they can cause problems later on. You should also be sure that you both want the same thing when it comes to the question of children.
6. Choose a man you trust
There should be no question over a man’s honesty, if your daughter is even considering marrying him. Honesty and trust should be absolutely implicit in a marriage, or it will never last the distance. A good husband will tell the truth every time, even if he knows that the truth may hurt sometimes.
7. Choose a man who is kind and considerate
You can also see what a man is really like by how he treats other people. A good indication of how your daughter’s future husband will treat her when they are married is how he treats his friends and his family. If he is kind and considerate towards his mother and he gets on well with kids, then he will probably show that kindness to his wife too.
8. Choose a man who encourages you to do your best
A woman should be looking for a man who will encourage her to be the best person that she can be, not a man who is looking for a housemaid! He should be supportive of her ideas and he should encourage her to follow her dreams.
9. Choose a man who will cherish and protect you
A daughter also needs to understand that she is more than just an object of desire and a man who might be her husband should be a man who loves and cherishes her for who she is. He will be a guy who will stand and fight her corner for her and be there to protect her when she needs it. A good man values his wife over all else, and he will always put her first.
10. Choose a man who loves you and who you love back
You can give all the practical advice about the type of man your daughter should marry, but if she’s old enough to be thinking about marriage, she’s old enough to make her own decisions. Above all else, there has to be real love in a marriage, and, if there is love, the rest of the things we mentioned should just come naturally.
Stay happy!
