No, You Can’t be a “Girl-Ninja”

No, You Can’t be a “Girl-Ninja”

“Look, Papa, I’m a girl-ninja,” said my daughter as she moved her hands around, fight mode.

Really? A girl ninja? Only five years old and somehow she picked up that ninjas had gender, male gender to be exact. “Whoa, that’s awesome,” I told her. “But also, it’s just called ninja, because you don’t call boys boy-ninjas.” She didn’t really care. She just kept showing off her moves. My husband gave me a look that said both, chill-out and thank you.

It bothers me, though it’s nothing new. This happens all the time. What exactly is inherently masculine about ninjas? Aren’t their bodies and faces all covered up? At least she knew she could be a ninja if she […]

2017-10-09T15:52:52+00:00By |
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She is Brave Enough to Face Herself

She is Brave Enough to Face Herself

“Do one thing every day that scares you.” -Eleanor Roosevelt

A Brave Girl does what no one else dared. Fear does not hold her back. But what does she fear? What is it, that holds back so many others? Marianne Williamson said it best,

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.”

We live in a tough world. I want my daughter to be prepared for whatever may come. But in that moment, when she looks her biggest challenge in the eyes, what really matters is that she is prepared to face herself.

Unfortunately, today’s helicopter-parenting trend does the […]

2017-10-01T18:10:06+00:00By |
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Raising A Brave Girl? Let her Choose (Part 5)

Raising A Brave Girl? Let her Choose (Part 5)

(This is the 5th and last part of the Raising a Brave Girl? Blog series. Check out the Intro: Are You Brave Enough To Raise a Brave Girl?, Part 1: Let her Fear, Part 2: Let her Feel, Part 3: Let her save herself, and Part 4: Let her Fail)

Brave Girls make their own choices

Tomorrow is made out of today’s choices – or something like that, right? When it comes to your daughter, you want her to make good choices. Safe choices. Smart choices. Responsible choices.

Choice-giving is a skill I teach as a parent coach. But right now I am not talking about the same parenting strategy, where parents give choices to […]

2017-10-01T18:33:48+00:00By |
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Raising A Brave Girl? Let Her Fail (Part 4)

Raising A Brave Girl? Let Her Fail (Part 4)

(This is the 4th part of the Raising a Brave Girl? Blog series. Check out the Intro: Are You Brave Enough To Raise a Brave Girl?, Part 1: Let her Fear, Part 2: Let her Feel, and Part 3: Let her save

Everyone is saying how lax and lazy this millennial generation is. I disagree. The nature of progress is to make life easier for coming generations.

Here is what I worry about: Overparenting

I don’t worry that life in today’s world is too easy for our kids, but that we make life too easy for them. By overparenting, we deny our kids a realistic sense of the effort it takes to succeed. When parents overwork, children don’t […]

2017-10-01T18:12:06+00:00By |
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Raising a Brave Girl? Let Her Save Herself (Part 3)

Raising a Brave Girl? Let Her Save Herself (Part 3)

(This is the third part of the Raising a Brave Girl? Blog series. Check out the Intro: Are You Brave Enough To Raise a Brave Girl?, Part 1: Let her Fear, and Part 2: Let her Feel.)

She can rescue herself

Let’s ditch the helpless fairy tale princess.  You know why. Only a prince can save her – and she knows it. But what upsets me about the traditional princess stories go further. How do these women constantly get in trouble like that? They seem to be easily tricked into terrible fates! Their male counterparts don’t seem to have that same issue. Why?

Traditional fairy tales don’t only teach girls that they need to […]

2017-10-01T18:34:20+00:00By |
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Raising a Brave Girl? Let Her Feel (Part 2)

Raising a Brave Girl? Let Her Feel (Part 2)

(This is the second part of the Raising a Brave Girl? Blog series. Check out the Intro: Are You Brave Enough To Raise a Brave Girl? and Part 1: Let her Fear.)

In Part 1, I described why your daughter needs to connect to both, positive and negative feelings. Every positive feeling needs its opposite. The more familiar she is with one, the better handle she will have over the other. This is how people who experienced terrible tragedies are able to also find peace of mind, even happiness.

As a parent, you hope your daughter won’t go through pain and sorrow. You want to protect her and keep her safe. Inevitably, though, she will […]

2017-10-01T18:34:50+00:00By |
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Raising a Brave Girl? Let Her Fear (Part 1)

Raising a Brave Girl? Let Her Fear (Part 1)

(This is the first part of the Raising a Brave Girl? Blog series. Check out the Intro: Are You Brave Enough To Raise a Brave Girl?)

I remember a cartoon where the parent says, “I want you to become a mover and shaker. I want you to defy rules and stand up for what you believe but… Not yet!” Sound familiar?

Raising Brave Girls does not always come naturally. It is not intuitive parenting for most. In this series, I’ll tell you why. And I’ll show you what you can do to help your daughter be the bravest girl on the block. First though, let’s make sure we are on the same page. Although people say […]

2017-10-01T18:35:10+00:00By |
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Are You Brave Enough to Raise a Brave Girl?

Are You Brave Enough to Raise a Brave Girl?

You are raising a girl. You want her to be successful. To be strong and determined. To break through that glass ceiling. To change the world.

And you know she has it in her. 

So you want to raise Brave Girl

You are not alone. “Girl empowerment topics are hot right now,” publishers told me when I queried their interest for my children’s book manuscript about a Brave Girl (releasing next year, YAY!)

Awesome girls are being profiled in kid’s literature, videos, and everywhere. With good reason! Old history books were written by men that ignored the amazing contributions of women worldwide.

Still, women are underrepresented in many men-dominated fields. And although we tell girls that they can be anything they want […]

2017-10-01T18:36:33+00:00By |
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Why Brave Like A Girl?

Why Brave Like A Girl?

My daughter and I were playing. She was the doctor, and I was her patient. She pretended to give me a shot. I pretended to be nervous in anticipation of the pain. She gently put her hand on mine, whispering, “Don’t be scared. Be brave… Like a Girl!”

I was blown away. Only four years old, she hadn’t heard this expression before. It was one of those moments when you feel like you are just totally winning at the parenting thing. And it stuck with me for the greater picture of raising a girl.

My husband and I know our daughter will have experiences that will be different from ours because of her gender. She will face challenges that we did not need […]

2017-11-02T12:51:13+00:00By |
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