As a mom of three daughters, finding out about ways to raise brave girls is definitely something I want to read more about.
I want them to be strong. I want them to be confident. I want them to be kind. And yes, I want them to be brave.
With so many societal pressures, it becomes a challenge to have girls feel confident and see themselves as strong leaders.
In Brave Girls, Dr. Stacey Radin discusses two traits that we want girls to have. Strength and resiliency are found in powerful, successful women. This is exactly what I want my daughters to have. “Being able to step back and reflect on a challenge, resulting in growth and development, is the hallmark of resiliency.” (Radin 2015) When I read this, it reminded me exactly why I want my girls to be savvy and in the know. I want them to be able to have a problem, step back and be able to solve it. I know that this is what I want for my girls, but yet, I see how this can be a struggle.
In Brave Girls, I learned about Unleashed and why it was started.
Dr. Radin founded Unleashed, an after-school program that introduces pre-teen girls to an important social cause—animal rescue—and gives them a passion, a key element in being engaged and successful in both the workplace and in life. While the girls create solutions to the task of rescuing neglected and abused dogs, they learn compassion and resilience, how to interact with peers with empathy and respect, and develop resourcefulness and critical thinking skills.
My middle daughter loves animals and as I read this section of the book, I could picture her there with this group of girls helping with animals rescue and learning how to be friends and have confidence.
One of the exercises that truly resonated with me was the Power Boost on page 53. Give them permission to struggle. We all want to be supportive of our children but there are times where they need to do it themselves and take a risk. By experiencing difficult times, they will discover coping strategies and begin to feel more confident.
As the mother of a middle schooler and an elementary school teacher, these three thoughts from the book resonated with me for raising brave girls:
- Allow them to struggle. Navigate them through the difficult so they can develop coping strategies.
- Talk to them in honest conversations regarding bullying. Don’t be afraid to probe and problem-solve together.
- Encourage girls to speak their minds and be an advocate for themselves.
These ideas and more can be found in Brave Girls: Raising Young Women with Passion and Purpose to Become Powerful Leaders by Dr. Stacey Radin.
You can purchase the book on Amazon
Connect on Social Media too.
Twitter: @UnleashedNyOrg
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UnleashedNYOrg
How do you raise brave girls?
Allow them to struggle. That is the one I struggle with every single day! Although Feeling better as I am reading this post and feeling more empowered too. This job of raising kids is not so black and white!
Lordy I need this book 🙂
Or a guide.
Or melissa (points up) to move in with me.
I’m absolutely going to recommend this book to parents of girls that I coach!
This book sounds like a great read! I like the advice to let them cope with struggles themselves. My mom let me do that when I was younger, and I think it’s made me stronger and braver now.