
Women are taught from an early age to play it safe, urged to be careful, complimented for being nice and pretty, steered away from activities where we might fail. Meanwhile, boys are encouraged to speak up, get dirty, take risks, and get up and try again if they fall down. What happens? We create girls who can get straight A's in grade school but have a hard time claiming success and happiness in the adult world where being perfect is impossible to claim.
I was a school counselor for 28 years. Reshma Saujani described almost every girl and boy I worked with. Girls were the valedictorians, they knew how to get a perfect GPA. They were also the most stressed, with highest anxiety, most likely to drop out of college when they failed their first test. Boys, who had experience in failing and falling down, weren't expected to be perfect, often went on to have a better adult life experience. We need to start raising, teaching, and encouraging our girls to be brave and give up the notion that anyone needs to be perfect.
Read this book for yourself and every girl you can influence to be stronger and happier.
I was a school counselor for 28 years. Reshma Saujani described almost every girl and boy I worked with. Girls were the valedictorians, they knew how to get a perfect GPA. They were also the most stressed, with highest anxiety, most likely to drop out of college when they failed their first test. Boys, who had experience in failing and falling down, weren't expected to be perfect, often went on to have a better adult life experience. We need to start raising, teaching, and encouraging our girls to be brave and give up the notion that anyone needs to be perfect.
Read this book for yourself and every girl you can influence to be stronger and happier.