Dear Dr. Meg,

How important can sports and activities be to a teenage girl’s self-esteem building? How can we help her if she doesn’t make teams? And how can we boost her self-esteem, in general?

Sincerely,

Concerned Mother

Dear Concerned Mother,

The best way to help raise a girl’s self-esteem (at any age) is by having her father give her affection. How easy is that?

The best way to help raise a girl’s self-esteem is by having her father give her affection.

When a Dad hugs his daughter, she gets the extremely important message that he sees her and he likes what he sees. Her father’s feelings about her are far more important than her performance on any soccer field. Fathers have the potential to have the greatest impact on their daughters’ lives. Simply by being with them and paying attention to them, they can ensure their daughter will grow up to be a strong woman with great self-esteem. (There is so much research to back this up, I wrote an entire book on the topic.)

Beyond this, there are many other things that parents can do to boost self-esteem.

Fathers have the potential to have the greatest impact on their…