“And one day she discovered that she was fierce, and strong, and full of fire, and that not even she could hold herself back because her passion burned brighter than her fears.”
Mark Anthony
This blog post full of book and blog recommendations for empowering our daughters was originally part of my weekly newsletter in October 2022. If you want to read my musings regularly, sign up here. For information, as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases*.
Start Young
Let's start empowering our daughters when they are little. Two suggestions for you. First off, I'm a girl and I can do ANYTHING!, written by Erika Baillet, a fellow expat here in France. Suitable for girls aged 3-7, and written in rhyme, it helps to build our children's' confidence. The sort of book your little ones will ask you to read again and again!
Erika's book wasn't around when my daughter was little, but Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls appeared as a Christmas gift fairly early in her life. The spine is bent, the pages are worn, it is LOVED. When I went on to Amazon, looking for an image for my newsletter I was delighted to find that there are more books in the series - women entrepreneurs, athletes, immigrants, climate warriors, and take a look at this one for engaging in powerful dialogue with your child. My daughter is definitely more fact than fiction, in books and films, so I'll be adding some of these to her wish list for upcoming birthday and Christmas ideas!
In response to my newsletter, a mum wrote and shared one of her favourite books - What Are Little Girls Made of?. Have you seen it - it's lots of fun with a serious message behind it - a rewriting of nursery rhymes with a feminine twist - when Georgie Porgie kisses the girl - he ends up crying. And Little Bo Peep - well she just wades into the mud to rescue her sheep when they get stuck.
Moving up - teens and pre-teens
Do you know the American Girl series? The Care and Keeping of You (1) is a recent addition to our bookshelf. It's very 'keep your body clean and healthy' focussed, and definitely has helped us have conversations about teeth, hair care, etc. It does come with a caveat (that you will find if you read through the Amazon reviews) that sometimes the solution to 'I'm feeling insecure about my freckles' is 'smile and wear a hat'. To which I would say 'Yes, AND..' We need to help our children build up their inner confidence in how wonderful they are. And know there's so much more to them than their 'body'.
If you'd like support in knowing how best to build up your child's confidence, then book a chat and let's talk about how I can support your family.
Periods
Lisa, another expat living here in France, has started a blog all about periods! She sells period pants and wants us all to know how amazing they are - especially for our daughters when they first start their periods. I particularly enjoyed this article, about building a 'Period starter' kit. Have you built one? What would you add in to her suggestions? She'll be back in the blog soon, as I've invited her to write a guest blog for us.
Meanwhile, another Paris-based mum recommends The Period Book by Karen Gravelle - I'm off to take a look!
* That means that I get a small commission for purchases made through links in this post.
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