{"id":322,"date":"2014-07-22T00:03:02","date_gmt":"2014-07-22T06:03:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.mops.org\/2014\/07\/22\/teaching-my-daughters-to-live-likeagirl\/"},"modified":"2014-07-22T00:03:02","modified_gmt":"2014-07-22T06:03:02","slug":"teaching-my-daughters-to-live-likeagirl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/teaching-my-daughters-to-live-likeagirl\/","title":{"rendered":"Teaching my Daughters to Live #LikeAGirl"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It seems appropriate that a video asking what it means to do something \u201clike a girl\u201d is from a maxi-pad company. There is nothing more feminine than having our periods, after all. Even the brand name, <i>Always<\/i>, suggests trust because of the consistency and dependability of the single word moniker. I will be with you <i>Always<\/i>. You will have your period <i>Always<\/i>.<\/p>\n<p>So when <i>Always<\/i> released a video titled #LikeAGirl showing male and female actors auditioning with directions to do a number of activities \u201clike a girl\u201d juxtaposed with girls receiving the same instructions, cyberspace noticed. At least my mom friends noticed. The video raises the question of how we use that phrase and the implicit or explicit messages it sends our daughters (and our sons, too!).<\/p>\n<p><iframe src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/XjJQBjWYDTs\" width=\"675\" height=\"380\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>I recognize this two minute edited cyber-commercial for <i>Always<\/i> is just that &#8211; video the marketing team hoped moms like me would share on Facebook (which we quickly did).<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s what stood out from this video: the actors (both men and women) portrayed silly stereotypes, caricatures, that felt outdated and forced. The girls in the video didn\u2019t put on any forced airs, they were comfortable with the title \u201cgirl\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>When I talk with my girls about being a girl (or a woman because let\u2019s be serious we are big versions of our girl-selves) I\u2019m careful about the ways that I talk and the messages they receive. My girls aren\u2019t handed stereotypes in our house (with the exception of a few shows they like to watch). But I\u2019m not going out of my way to make Girl Power a rally cry either. I don\u2019t use language that is weak or timid. I try not to use words like \u201calways\u201d and \u201cnever.\u201d I don\u2019t want my girls to feel like they need to PROVE anything. That they can simply be who they were made to be. I don\u2019t make it a point to say girl\u2019s AREN\u2019T weak, because guess what? In lots of ways we are. Because we are human. We are sensitive. I overheard one of my daughters this week tell someone she\u2019s seen Daddy cry once (at a friend\u2019s funeral) but Mommy cries all the time. I don\u2019t try to fight that I am emotional. IT IS WHO I AM. Is it because I\u2019m a woman? I don\u2019t know, but I suspect that\u2019s part of it. But we don\u2019t jump to those conclusions in our house that all girls are wired the same way I am. We don\u2019t use one girl\u2019s (or mom\u2019s) experience as the standard for her sisters. Because, to be a girl takes many forms. As many as there are girls in the world.<\/p>\n<p>Here is what I want my four daughters to know about being a girl, girls are made in God\u2019s image and therefore wonderful (as are boys BTW). Delicate or sturdy. Gentle or rough. Quiet or loud. God made my daughters girls, and he made them unique.<\/p>\n<p>We can be confident in how he crafted each of us. And yes, I say we. Because I am my daughters\u2019 number one model of what it means to be a girl. If I embrace who I am as a woman through self-acceptance rather than self-deprecation, through humor rather than sarcasm, through celebration rather than degradation, I am modeling that to be a girl is a good thing.<\/p>\n<p>So Darling, here\u2019s to being a mom #LikeAGirl.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"right\" title=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/www.mops.org\/images\/cms_images\/Alex_new.jpeg&quot; \/&gt;&lt;\/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;As a mom to four girls, ages 11, 8, 4 and 2, Alexandra Kuykendall is offered daily doses of the ludicrous and sublime. She is the author of this year\u2019s MOPS International theme book, &lt;em&gt;&lt;a style=&quot;line-height: 1.6;&quot; href=&quot;http:\/\/mops.christianbook.com\/the-artists-daughter-a-memoir\/alexandra-kuykendall\/9780800722050\/pd\/722050\/1345168016?event=HPF1&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;The Artist\u2019s Daughter, A Memoir &lt;\/a&gt;&lt;\/em&gt;and is the Mom and Leader Content Editor for the organization. This means she reads a lot and writes when she can. But don\u2019t be fooled by long and fancy titles, most of Alex\u2019s days are spent washing dishes, driving to and from different schools and trying to find a better solution to the laundry dilemma. You can connect with her at &lt;a style=&quot;line-height: 1.6;&quot; href=&quot;http:\/\/alexandrakuykendall.com\/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;AlexandraKuykendall.com&lt;\/a&gt;.&lt;\/p&gt;&lt;hr \/&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img class=&quot;left&quot; title=&quot;&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; src=\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Inspired by the (in)courage community, this <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dayspring.com\/in_courage_words_of_community_jute_tote_bag\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">tote bag<\/a> expresses heartfelt thoughts on community with a delightfully designed word cloud Thess 5:11<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p><a id=\"rc-f06f7343\" class=\"rafl\" href=\"http:\/\/www.rafflecopter.com\/rafl\/display\/f06f7343\/\" rel=\"nofollow\">a Rafflecopter giveaway<\/a><\/p>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"\/\/widget.rafflecopter.com\/load.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"call-to-action\">If you\u2019re your daughter\u2019s number one model of what it means to be a girl, what do you want them to glean from you?<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"\/\/widget.rafflecopter.com\/load.js\"><\/script><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It seems appropriate that a video asking what it means to do something \u201clike a girl\u201d is from a maxi-pad company. There is nothing more feminine than having our periods, after all. Even the brand name, Always, suggests trust because of the consistency and dependability of the single word moniker. I will be with you [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":13000,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"0","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_seopress_news_disabled":"","_seopress_video_disabled":"","_seopress_video":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas_manual":[],"_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable_all":"","_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas":[],"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42,102],"tags":[127,168,26,197,156,203,101],"class_list":["post-322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","category-relationships","tag-alexandra","tag-body-image","tag-family","tag-girls","tag-inspirational","tag-inspire","tag-parenting"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=322"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}