One of life’s most powerful gifts to the world is the mother-daughter relationship. Â It is a double dose of nurturing and friendship which if done in the right manner can blossom into an everlasting connection. Coupled with open communication and caring counselling, taking out time to engage in activities with your daughter is the best way to get to know her and foster a motherly friendship with her. Here are a few things you can do together.
Try Something You both like
What are your common interests? determine what you both enjoy to do or agree on trying something new together. You could plan a hangout day where you go to see a new  movie, take a bike ride or cook a meal you haven’t cooked before together. This way you enjoy the company of your daughter, keep fit and learn new things all at the same time. It is also an avenue to get to know each other better which will help to tighten your bond.
Go for a Beauty Treatment
Another way to take off time is to go to the spa and beauty parlour together. This way you  get to catch up on the latest gist with your daughter as well as pamper yourself. It is a double winner of bonding and treating your body to some TLC (tender loving care) so get your hair done, fix your nails and simply relax with the comfort of your daughter beside you.
Pray Together
Every mum who intends to build a strong mum-daughter relationship can only achieve this in the corridor of prayers. As we all know, there are times our human strength will fail but God is constant and He is always the best solution for every kind of situation. Doing it on your own without God is like hitting a brick wall but with God on your side, it is like using a bulldozer to bring down the walls. Prayer is key in every aspect of your relationship with your daughter but most especially at the adolescent stage. This is usually the most difficult time to get through to her but if you encourage praying together, there is no gap God cannot bridge.
Exercise Together
Even if you are the very busy working mum, you can try to take out at least a few mins for bonding time and this can be done through exercise. Go to the gym, jog, run, swim or do exercise at home together. It may be a little hard to keep up with your daughter’s energy but it can still be fun and a great way to teach her about the importance of exercise. The exercise routines could be spiced up with things that will interest her like listening to music as you work out or using an app to record your progress. This would make her feel loved and she would definitely appreciate the sacrifice.
Read Together
It is very important to foster a reading culture so this can be an activity to do with your daughter. Look for a book that will appeal to both of you and take out the time to read to her or preferably she could read it to you. Â At the early stages, this could be a good bonding strategy because it would help you know more about your daughter’s strength or weaknesses in the area of literacy. This way you can gently and gradually guide her to love to read on her own.
Have Fun Together
Let yourself go at this point, set yourself free. Let go of the rigid mum structure you sometimes put up. Feel free to be fun and have fun, come down to the level of your daughter. This would help you relate with her from her own view point. Play a game of hide and seek, chess, scrabble, monopoly, wii, the list is endless. You could even ask your daughter to initiate a game herself as she would be in a better position to talk about current games of her time. Goof a little and let her teach you some slangs, use it sometimes to break the ice. Though she might make fun of you when you pronounce them wrongly but you will be sure to have a laugh and she will be happy you are making an effort to be close to her.
Look Cute Together
Take out time to wear matching clothes and go for outings together. You could plan your own twin asoebi for parties, get togethers or even shopping. This helps to form a positive reinforcement in the mindset of your daughter and she would appreciate the fact that her mother likes to be identified with her.
Go out together
Pick an outing you would like to go together. It could be to the beach, go karting or just a stop at the ice cream parlour. Make sure you look good so she would be proud to be seen with you in public and even be eager to introduce you to friends she might meet there.
Building a strong lasting relationship with your daughter takes a lot of work and patience especially in her growing up years. Once you put in time and effort to bond with her, it will reinforce her confidence and commitment to your relationship on a continuous basis. Through your guidance you would help her be the best person she can be.
