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" I want to thank all of you for your feedback on Friday&amp;#039;s post about raising daughters who aren&amp;#039;t &amp;#039;pleasers&amp;#039;. As always, you all offer incredibly wise advice and I think we&amp;#039;re all on the same page with this. We want daughters who are kind. We want daughters who are compassionate. We want daughters who care about the happiness of others, particularly those most important in their lives. But we don&amp;#039;t want it at the cost of their dignity, or their self-respect, or their independence. Every single day, we try to teach the life lessons of doing good for the sake of good, putting the needs of others ahead of your own when your own needs are selfish or self-serving, and reaping the joy of giving to others. Our daughters - actually, all our children - should know that compassion is strength. But we also need to teach them that giving to someone who returns indifference, or disdain, or brutality is a path that will only lead them away from who they were truly meant to be. It&amp;#039;s a fine line to cross in the beginning, and when you love someone, that line can be incredibly blurry at times. Somehow, as parents, we need to make sure that our children can clearly see the differences, and stay true to who they are, without sacrificing one ounce of the kindness and inner strength that they have to share. Food for thought as we move into a new year, courtesy of you fine folks. What life lessons do you want your kids to learn most in the coming year? [Follow Ellie on Twitter and Facebook] "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.womansday.com/relationships/dating-marriage/a48158/altruism-and-independence/>