12 Benefits of Raising our Daughters on the Ranch

February 1, 2015

Well I missed Daughter’s Day—didn’t know it existed until now, late as usual.  Remember to celebrate our girls on January 12^th.  In order to honor our daughter’s special roles in our lives and society, especially rurally, here are

12 Benefits of Raising our Daughters on the Ranch

1.    Contrary to popular belief, girls on the ranch seem to have a better understanding of their own femininity.  She will learn her talents and limitations while working and have a deeper sense of joy when she can exercise those girly traits.  When working with brothers or other male counterparts, she will look to wear that extra piece of pink or purple to distinguish herself.

2.   As a teen and throughout womanhood, chivalry is more appreciated.  While having to hold her own hauling hay or open gates all day long, she will be taken aback but appreciate letting a boyfriend carry her books to class or open a car door on a date.  

3.   Though she might have to adjust to others’ manners, she should have a nice set of her own.  Being raised in traditionally old-fashioned communities like small town sale barns or mom and pop cafes, she will be exposed to old-fashioned manners.  “Yes ma’am,” “may I please…” and “no thank you” will be some of her first words and a staple through her verbal development.

4.   Those barns and cafes will be surprisingly “fun.”  When sitting in a cab for interminable hours or staying at home for days or weeks on end, a little girl will find great joy in people watching an old man with no teeth eat his soup or explain to a cashier about her “really pretty boots.” Most of all, she will love all the treasures she can find at a farm sale or estate auction.

5.   At these public places, I forget sometimes that when we go to the city, people aren’t as friendly.  They lock their car doors.  She will assume the good in people but know inherent danger that her city friends won’t see.  “That puddle might be fun, but the mud under it will make me stuck.  That big truck has my mom in it, but she might not be able to see me, so I will wait by the house.”  Older girls have an eye for snakes, lightning rods, and the power the wind has over a loose rope.

6.   God is good though, and she will witness His glory in the everyday miracles.  Rain will drop in time to settle the dust just as babies will drop from their mothers to bring on new life.  She will feel His Spirit day and night though all the events on the ranch and will be able to see her own body as a vessel for life.  She will see the ease of the birthing process for livestock and will acknowledge herself as able and strong while carrying and delivering children of her own.

7.   Those kinds of moments will be so very teachable.  She will be a forever student being raised on the farm.  Having the Birds ‘n’ the Bees talk will happen naturally while watching animals do their thing.  She will learn about housekeeping when it is too dark to do work outside and have a keen eye for misplaced items after looking for baby calves in a pasture.  She will learn how to fix anything under the sun and be resourceful in doing so—a leaky water tank can’t wait for a trip to town, so some mud and sand on the inside will do the trick.  She will be business-minded from years of listening to her parents do their “figuring.”  Of all things she needs to be taught, she will quickly out-grow her stubbornness because she will get tired of getting hurt or having to struggle thus learn to do things right the first time.

8.   Flexibility and respect the need for adjustment, especially with time, will be one of her greatest assets.  Nothing on the farm ever goes to plan because it is God’s plan.  Most women need control and must have things “just so,” but she might never even develop that mentality having grown up with parents that had to leave the 4th of July party to go home and bale when the dew was perfect or gather cows on Christmas morning while the sun was warm.  She will never be able to make a plan with a friend or even her husband.  However, time spent with family will be that much more cherished.  She will have to accept that having no plan is usually the only plan and surrender to His plan and perfect timing even when she can’t understand it herself.

9.   When she is very young, she will learn to be helpful.  She will be helping handle a calf tag or branding iron.  She will help her siblings button overalls or help her mom in the kitchen after a long day outside.  Helpfulness isn’t a chore.  It isn’t even taught.  It is expected and simply a way of being because no one person can run the farm successfully without help.

10.  Giving help will teach her the gift of giving but hopefully she will feel graciousness in receiving help as well.  Plenty of times she will be fully capable of running a cow into a chute or testing a hay bale’s weight, but when someone comes along to participate or help, she will gladly accept it and not let her pride in her own capability get in the way.

11.  With all that capability, especially while she is young, she will soon reach womanhood and see her little brothers or cousins surpass her in physical strength.  She will understand that being “strong” physically is both beneficial and (in vanity looks good to have a working body full of lean muscle and tan skin), but she will learn quickly that it is not her physical strength getting her through.  She will learn to rely on intelligence as much as brute strength, but even brains are no match for her true strength--

12.  Strength from her Creator will abound beyond her brains and brawn.  He brought her into this life, and she will learn to look to Him for continued strength in it.  Her mental fortitude from Him will nurture a necessary shoulder to cry on or back to bear the weight of the world when times are hard.  She will deal with death on a personal level when it feels the (family pet) pig has passed or becomes bacon, but she will also intimately know how death loss affects family income.  She will have to work through emotional difficulties to maintain her livelihood.  Most of all, she will not only know but will appreciate that all the Glory in this life comes not from her hands but His, and she will give it back to Him.

Ladies, I hope we all will enjoy raising our daughters in this lifestyle.  If you were lucky enough to be raised on a ranch, remember that before you were a mother, or a wife, or probably even before you were an aunt or a sister, you were a daughter first.