Sugar and spice may be nice, but these days, girls need to be made of hardier stuff to get through tween-hood and adolescence. But building a girl's self-esteem into that of a confident young woman begins in the nursery. Congratulate your little girl on the things she does, not how she looks. Take the emphasis away from "you're so pretty" and place it on "you're so smart" instead. {relatedarticles}Read stories in which the girl is the hero, instead of the girl waiting to be saved by Prince Charming. Surround your daughter with strong role models of both sexes, and if her father is in the picture, then encourage him to engage her in a variety of activities that aren't gender-specific. It's never too early to explain to your daughter that the images she sees in the media - magazines, television, movies, etc. - aren't the norm.