Showing posts with label girls. Show all posts
Showing posts with label girls. Show all posts

February 22 - World Thinking Day

    Posted on February 22, 2022


This is an update of my post published on February 22, 2011:




Every year on February 22, the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts celebrates “World Thinking Day.”

This year the theme is “Our World: Our Equal Future: The Environment and Gender Equality.” See the official website for info about the day. (Note the link to the downloadable Activity Pack.)



Here are three low-cost ways of making donations that will help empower women and girls. The ideas come from the book Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide (by Kristof and WuDunn).

Whether girls are from Namibia or Hungary...



...or India or Brazil...



...or Puerto Rico or northern Canada...



...they all deserve equity in education and opportunity!



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March 8 - Girls Write Now Day

Posted on March 8, 2017

I find myself wondering if this is really Girls Write Now Day - the evidence is thin - and, if so, why today? - could it be the anniversary of the organization's founding?

But then I realized, who cares? It's a great thing for people to know about, and it works well with International Women's Day (see below)!

Girls Write Now is a 20-year-old mentoring program that helps at-risk girls from New York City's public high schools. The program matches girls from disadvantaged backgrounds with women who are professional writers, and the mentors help the girls develop their writing skills, cultivate their own voices, and build a writing portfolio. 

There are also writing workshops, annual awards, an annual anthology, and a reading series in which girls read their own words in front of an audience.

Slightly off of the focus on writing, College Bound is a program with tutorials and workshops that help the girls to turn in their college applications.

The programs have had great success, with every girl going to college armed with a writing portfolio and more confidence in their own writing and voice, and with about half of the girls earning scholarships and awards.

This year's theme is "Rise, Speak, Change," with the subtitle that "Never before has been so important."




Also on this date:












International Women's Day




Discover What Your Name Means Day 





Fiesta of San Juan de Dios






Plan ahead:
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November 14 – International Girls Day

Posted on November 14, 2016


Get ready for #YouCan!  

Today is a day to encourage girls that they can dream big, achieve, and be who they want to be. It's a day to talk about messages in the media and among peer groups about how girls “should” dress and talk and act...with an emphasis on deconstructing all the “should”s and building up individual styles and self-knowledge.

Hillary Clinton's recent concession speech, when she narrowly won the popular vote for President of the United States, but lost the electoral vote, emphasized the message “You can” to women and especially to girls:  
“To all the little girls who are watching this, never doubt that you are valuable, and powerful, and deserving of every chance and opportunity in the world to pursue and achieve your own dreams.”

There are resources to be had at the Confidence Coalition's website, including the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media. 


Remember, you can find your interests and talents by trying a variety of activities. When you find an activity you really like, develop it by putting time and effort into that activity. 

Some people feel better when they throw themselves into pretty much just one pursuit (like acting in the community theater or playing basketball), but others prefer to dabble in lots of activities (say, one sport plus one art form plus one musical instrument).

One of my daughters drew and painted a lot, and took art classes, and she also did track and field activities several times a week – but she focused a bit more of her time on learning a variety of dance styles. It was dancing that eventually caught her up as other interests mostly fell by the wayside, and she took dance classes six days a week, for multiple hours a day, plus competed with two dance teams. She moved from being pretty much a dabbler to being a person with a laser focus on one passion.

To boost your self-confidence, remember these important steps:

  • Lower the volume of your inner critic. Be nice to yourself! Rewrite you negative thoughts about yourself into more positive and helpful feedback.
  • Have “I want to do my best” as a goal, rather than having winning, getting a perfect score, or other performance-based goals. Remember to give yourself applause for genuine effort.
  • Look at mistakes as learning opportunities.
  • Look at losses and failures as motivations for more self-discovery, more effort, and greater future achievements.
  • Accept compliments. When appropriate, accept help.
  • Relax...Also, exercise! Be yourself! Have fun!
  • Think about others, and do for others.
  • Keep trying new things.

Also on this date:



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October 9 – Malala Survives!

Posted October 9, 2016

Today is the anniversary of a horrific assassination attempt.

When Malala Yousafzai was just 11 years old, she started writing a blog, using a pseudonym (or fake name) to protect her identity.

Why did she need protection?

Young Malala was describing her life under the repressive Taliban, a terrorist group that was trying to control the region of Pakistan where she lived. At times the Taliban had banned girls from attending school. Malala didn't just talk about what was happening in her corner of the world, she gave her own views about those events, and about the importance of education for girls.

Aaannd the Taliban wasn't happy about that. Especially when people began to pay attention to the blog. There was a movie, interviews in print and on TV, even a prize nomination.


On this date in 2012, when Yousafzai was 15 years old, an assassin shot her –in the face! – while she road on her school bus.

We are all so grateful that she somehow survived!

Yousafzai was taken to England for rehabilitation. Although many in the Muslim world condemned the attempt on her life, the Taliban repeated threats that they would kill Yousafzai and her father.

The news of the child assassination attempt became big news all over the world, and some said that Yousafzai became the most famous teenager in the world. Because of her work towards children's rights, particularly girls' rights, some real changes happened in Pakistan – with its first Right to Education Bill now in place – and more efforts towards education rights and girls' rights have started around the world.


Malala Yousafzai has gotten some amazing honors and awards, most notably the 2015 Nobel Peach Prize. At age 17, she was the youngest to have ever earned this prestigious prize!

Yousafzai is now 19 years old. She continues to be a student and an activist. She writes and speaks. There was a U.N. Event called Malala Day, and there is a non-profit organization called Malala Fund; the latter has funded the opening of a school near the Syrian border, especially for Syrian refugees.


Also on this date:


Independence Day in Uganda



























Leif Ericson Day







Plan ahead:


Check out my Pinterest boards for:
And here are my Pinterest boards for:

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