He gets it

My oldest child has always had a problem asking for help. She would much rather handle situations on her own and will almost never ask for assistance. Mostly this stems from experiences she has had in school. You see, she is extremely intelligent. No, I am not being a preening parent; I am being honest. When she was in the 5th grade she was testing at a college sophomore level. In addition she is also an over achiever, always has been. She hates working on group projects and will always take the majority of the work load to ensure receiving an A on the project. As much as I understand her frustration there is also a need for her to be able to recognize personal limitations as well as recognizing that asking for help does not equal weakness or failing. This is our current struggle.
Last night she was told that her lack of ability to ask for help was a result of arrogance and she needed to humble herself back down to the level of the rest of us. Before anyone had a chance to respond or even digest the material that had been dished out, my husband spoke...
"I'm going to stop you right there. 95% of the time she is the most intellectual person in the room, you call it arrogance. I suppose if you are one of the people who aren't her equal in that it would be considered arrogance; but those who are her equal or above would consider it reality. She does not look down on people nor does she consider herself superior to people in any way, she never has. But if she recognizes that she can perform a function better than another person who's track record proves that point, how is that arrogant and not realistic? As far as humbling herself down to the rest of us, you are way out of line. We will not be taking her self confidence. Women in society today without self confidence are victims, she is not a victim and I have worked to hard to instill that in her for you to attempt to tell her its wrong. That arrogance, as you like to call it, may just save her ass someday. Every day that she wakes up and gets out of bed she is prey for someone out there simply because she is a woman. This arrogance that you speak of will give her the ability to kick his ass and that's just the way its going to stay. Now what we need to focus on is teaching her that asking for help doesn't mean she isn't capable nor does it mean she is a failure. That's where all of this is stemming from, not because she thinks she is better than anyone or has to much self confidence. She has a fear of failure and in that is afraid that by asking for help makes her less. That's what we are focusing on while keeping her self esteem in tact."
He gets it, he really gets it. I admit, I cried.