Strong, Smart, and Bold: Empowering Girls for Life - Hardcover

Fine, Carla

3.42

24 ratings by Goodreads

9780060197711: Strong, Smart, and Bold: Empowering Girls for Life

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0060197714 ISBN 13: 9780060197711

Publisher: William Morrow, 2001

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The pressures a girl experiences growing up today are more intense than ever before. There are gender stereotypes to buck. Narrow expectations to contend with. Conflicting messages to make sense of. A girl is told that it's important to excel in school and pursue a career but that she should also keep her voice down, watch her weight, and make sure that everyone else around her is happy.

Strong, Smart, and Bold shows parents and caregivers how to raise a confident, courageous, and self-sufficient girl. Based on the successful approach of Girls Inc., the nation's leading empowerment organization for girls -- which improves the lives of girls through its programs, research, and advocacy -- the book offers proven techniques and compelling success stories to bring out a girl's spirit as early as possible and to give her the self-assurance she needs to thrive in an increasingly complex and pressured world. Strong, Smart, and Bold presents interactive activities that will help equip a girl with the important knowledge, key life skills, and confidence to accomplish her goals.

A recent Girls Inc. survey found that girls experience stereotypes that limit:
Their right to be themselves and resist gender stereotypes (60 percent)
Their right to accept and appreciate their bodies (62 percent)
Their right to express themselves with originality and enthusiasm (52 percent)
Their right to take risks, strive freely, and take pride in success (50 percent)
Their right to have confidence in themselves and to be safe in the world (54 percent)

The Girls Inc. Girls' Bill of Rights, which is the foundation of this book, helps a girl understand that she is entitled to be valued and respected at home, at school, and in her community.

A dynamic approach to raising a healthy and assured woman, Strong, Smart, and Bold empowers a girl to be her own best advocate and inspires her to discover, hold on to, and be proud of who she is.

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Review:

Numerous books are available that discuss statistics on the changes young women go through between ages 8 and 14. New educational programs and new opportunities for girls in sports are just a couple of positive changes that have resulted from such titles as Reviving Ophelia and In a Different Voice. If you're wondering how to put these theories into practice, Strong, Smart, and Bold is the book you're looking for; here you'll find a wealth of specific suggestions based around "The Girls' Bill of Rights". Start with evaluating what chores your daughter is responsible for around the home--do they fall under traditional "female" responsibilities like doing the dishes, cooking, and laundry? It may be time to turn the tables and get her started on chopping wood, mowing the lawn, or computer hardware installation. One practical idea is sponsoring a "Girls Under the Hood" program for your daughter and her friends--shouldn't every driver know how to check tire pressure, change the oil, and refill the fluids? Some suggestions are more about opening up communication, and use open-ended questions like "When do you feel safe?" and "How do you feel about your looks?" There are also many opportunities for mothers to ask similar questions of themselves--do you remember what strange fashions your friends liked when you were a teen? These may be some of the most important questions in the book, as according to nationally sponsored essay contests, "99 percent of girls chose their mother as the person they admire most in their lives because of the advice they've been given by her." --Jill Lightner

About the Author:

Carla Fine is the author of five books, including No Time to Say Goodbye: Surviving the Suicide of a Loved One and Married to Medicine: An Intimate Portrait of Doctors' Wives. She lives in New York City with her husband, Allen Oster, and their two Labrador retrievers, Sancho and Rosie.

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