As I may have mentioned before, my 4-year old daughter is very into princesses. Many of them are very strong and teach great lessons, but for a while I have wanted to introduce her to some women and girls who overcame real world obstacles, to give her some positive role models and to help teach problem solving. Many of the books I've seen about these women are a bit dry, and certainly not sparkly (there are notable exceptions, including one of my favorites,
Me…Jane, by Patrick McDonnell). So my plan was to print out pictures of women like Amelia Earhart, Rosa Parks, Jane Goodall, etc, and then for us to decorate them together using jewel stickers and glitter. She loves doing crafts, as well as all things glittery, so I figured it would spark her interest and then we could talk about these women and their struggles and triumphs together, while doing an activity she enjoys.
I had been kicking this idea around for a while, when I saw a FB post from my good friend Brianna, who amazingly is homeschooling her kindergartener this year. She created a Wall of Inspirational Girls and Women for her daughters, ages 5 and 3. I was so intrigued by this very-simple-but-oh-so-incredible idea, and it went perfectly with what I was trying to do. About getting started, Brianna said, "I was just trying to think of women who inspired me for some reason. I'm attracted to people who are inspiring for something other than being the 'first woman who did X'. For example:
Diana Nyad was the first PERSON to swim from Cuba to the US without a shark cage or fins. And she did it at 64 years old! And it was her 5th try! Good lessons about following your dream regardless of your age, and not giving up."
What an inspiration! Brianna's
wall includes Diana Nyad, Rosa Parks, Mother Teresa, Bethany Hamilton, Malala Yousafzai, and Dr. Madeha Alajroush (an organizer of the protests in Saudi Arabia against the ban on women drivers), who wrote a note to Brianna's daughter reminding her that rights are taken not given. Wow!
For our wall, we started with 2 women who share my daughter's name:
Tess McGill from the movie Working Girl, and
Jane Goodall.
I'm so excited to keep going with our wall. I love learning more about these inspiring women too! I would love to hear what you think, and if you have any suggestions for future women to feature. Maybe in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. day, Rosa Parks should be next...
As I may have mentioned before, my 4-year old daughter is very into princesses. Many of them are very strong and teach great lessons, but for a while I have wanted to introduce her to some women and girls who overcame real world obstacles, to give her some positive role models and to help teach problem solving. Many of the books I've seen about these women are a bit dry, and certainly not sparkly (there are notable exceptions, including one of my favorites, Me…Jane, by Patrick McDonnell). So my plan was to print out pictures of women like Amelia Earhart, Rosa Parks, Jane Goodall, etc, and then for us to decorate them together using jewel stickers and glitter. She loves doing crafts, as well as all things glittery, so I figured it would spark her interest and then we could talk about these women and their struggles and triumphs together, while doing an activity she enjoys.
I had been kicking this idea around for a while, when I saw a FB post from my good friend Brianna, who amazingly is homeschooling her kindergartener this year. She created a Wall of Inspirational Girls and Women for her daughters, ages 5 and 3. I was so intrigued by this very-simple-but-oh-so-incredible idea, and it went perfectly with what I was trying to do. About getting started, Brianna said, "I was just trying to think of women who inspired me for some reason. I'm attracted to people who are inspiring for something other than being the 'first woman who did X'. For example:
Diana Nyad was the first PERSON to swim from Cuba to the US without a shark cage or fins. And she did it at 64 years old! And it was her 5th try! Good lessons about following your dream regardless of your age, and not giving up."
What an inspiration! Brianna's wall includes Diana Nyad, Rosa Parks, Mother Teresa, Bethany Hamilton, Malala Yousafzai, and Dr. Madeha Alajroush (an organizer of the protests in Saudi Arabia against the ban on women drivers), who wrote a note to Brianna's daughter reminding her that rights are taken not given. Wow!
For our wall, we started with 2 women who share my daughter's name: Tess McGill from the movie Working Girl, and Jane Goodall.
I'm so excited to keep going with our wall. I love learning more about these inspiring women too! I would love to hear what you think, and if you have any suggestions for future women to feature. Maybe in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. day, Rosa Parks should be next...
