My daughter Hayley is about to turn 8. Before I curl up in a ball and cry over how on earth my youngest is so old now, I need to work hard and teach her every day that it’s ok to be herself. I praise her basketball shorts, buy her all the headbands, play soccer with her, read stories of fairies and other stories of strong women with her, we play babies, we play barbies, we craft, we create, we write and every day I tell her how fabulous she is. She is fierce, she is sweet, she is full of grit and determination and she will be unstoppable when she starts on her path. I try so hard to model behaviors to show her confidence in action, show her how I stand up for what I believe is right and I also try to be sure she knows that she is amazing, JUST AS SHE IS!!!! STRONG IS THE NEW PRETTY!!! I want her to know how strong she is and can be!! I want her to rally around her girlfriends and support them, love them for who and what they are. I want my Hayley to be a STRONG and CONFIDENT woman!!

For her 8th birthday I am gifting her with Strong Is the New Pretty: A Guided Journal for Girls. I want to gift her with ways to praise herself, she her worth and her value. I also want her to see other strong women, what they have accomplished and know that she can shatter that glass ceiling and be anything she wants to be!