Background: An individual’s ability to analyze information to make effective decisions in life develops through learning within the individual. Considering the role of mothers in teaching the principles of learning to children, the present study was conducted to determine the impact of critical thinking skills teaching to mothers using self-efficacy strategies on daughters’ critical thinking in Esfarayen.  Methods: The present quasi-experimental study was conducted on 80 mothers (each group 40) of first-grade high school girl students in Esfarayen in 2023. The sampling method was multi-stage randomization. The data collection instruments were Ricketts' Critical Thinking Questionnaire and Morris’ Self Efficacy Questionnaire. Educational sessions were held as 5 sessions each taking 50 minutes at school through group discussions, brainstorms, and Q&As for the intervention group (mothers). Then, the questionnaires were completed by their daughters before educating mothers, immediately after educating them and three months later. The data were analyzed in SPSS using Mann-Whitney U-test, T-test, Friedman test, and chi-square test. The level of significance in all tests was p<0.05.  Results: The mean age of mothers in the intervention group was 36.5±6.3 and in the control group was 34.7±6.2. The mean age of students in the intervention group was 14.5±5.37 and in the control group was 14.37±5.57. The results showed that the critical thinking score and the total score of self-efficacy immediately and three months after the intervention had a significant increase in both groups compared to before the intervention (p<0.05). The intervention and control groups had statistically significant differences in terms of the mean scores of critical thinking and self-efficacy over time (p<0.05).  Conclusions: Teaching mothers based on the self-efficacy theory managed to improve critical thinking skills in their daughters. Therefore, it is recommended that policymakers in education use this theory to implement comprehensive educational programs for parents to improve life skills, including critical thinking skills of their children.