Dove Self-Esteem Weekend October 21st-23rd

Looking for something to do this weekend? Well, how about joining a movement that will make a difference in the lives of young girls and women everywhere.

Educating, inspiring and empowering young girls to love themselves unconditionally is one of my biggest passions. I believe in the importance of empowering our girls and helping them build the strength needed to deal with the many challenges they will face in life. This summer I started the I Love Me, Unconditionally mentoring program for girls where the girls engaged in fun activities while building a strong sense of self-esteem and of course celebrating all that is beautiful about them!

According to recent Dove Global research, only 11% of girls worldwide are comfortable using the word “beautiful” to describe themselves. In fact, when girls feel bad about their looks, more than 70% (age 15-17) avoid normal daily activities, such as attending school, going to the doctor, or even giving their opinion. Dove believes that by helping girls build a positive relationship with beauty, they can help them reach their full potential – and that’s the goal of the Dove Self-Esteem Weekend.

Take a minute to think about the women in your life who may have inspired you. Now it's your turn to be an inspiration to your daughter, niece, student or any young girl in your life by just pledging to spend an hour with them this weekend.

Here are just a few activities ideas that you can do one-on-one with a girl in your life, or even in a group:

A Girl’s Guide to the Digital World (Ages 10 & Up)
The essential guide for the modern woman; utilize our guide to the digital world as you walk your child through the ways she can work to develop a healthy attitude towards networking with friends and peers online. Useful tips from Dove Ambassador Jess Weiner make this guide perfect as our girls embark on a new school year.

New Moves & Grooves (All Ages)
Get physical! Choose a new activity, or pick one you both love. Anything from hula hooping to rock climbing, to dancing, bowling, roller-skating, hiking, swimming and more can be healthy for your body, mind and relationship.

Girls in the Lead (Ages 10 & Up)
Let the girl in your life teach you a new skill. Try doing a project together like jewelry making or pottery, or ask her to show you how to do something you normally wouldn’t, like play video games or learn to text.

Real Beauty Spa Day (Ages 12 & Up)
Spend an entire day with just the two of you and enjoy pampering yourselves. Turn a room into your very own at-home spa where you can do manicures and pedicures, mud masks, massages, have a healthy lunch and sip smoothies. Relax and watch an uplifting movie together. Use the opportunity to spark a meaningful discussion-ask her how she feels when she takes care of her appearance, which are her favorite or most unique features and what she likes best about herself. Teach her that looking her best and taking the time to treat herself is an important part of feeling good.

My daughter and I will having our Real Beauty Spa Day this weekend!!! Check back soon to hear all about our day and if you decide to join in the Dove Self-Esteem Weekend I would love to hear about it!

Check out www.dovemovement.com for more ideas and conversation starters. Let's continue to inspire and motivate our girls to reach their full potential.

Feeling the Sunshine!

It's hard to believe that it was only three months ago that I had a dream that I was speaking to a room full of young girls. Although, I couldn't tell from the dream exactly what I was speaking about......when I woke up a little voice God told me exactly what my message was.
It wasn't long until I turned my dream into a vision and then the vision into my purpose: to educate, inspire and empower young girls.

After talking with hubby and doing some serious research I decided to begin a mentoring program for young girls called 'I Love Me! Unconditionally. I reached out to a small group of parents who I thought may be interested in having their daughters attend a week long summer camp for girls. I could not believe the positive response that I received which just confirmed that this IS my purpose. Then I got busy planning and preparing the topics that I would address as well as the activities to go along with the daily workshops. It was amazing how it all came together so smoothly, almost as if I had been planning this for years.

The summer camp was called the I Love Me! Summer Workshop for Girls and it took place July 11-15. It was an amazing week! Not only did the girls learn how to trust and believe in their dreams this week.... so did I! By the end of the week the girls had shared their feelings, recognized their strengths and weaknesses and learned that the way they feel about themselves is more important than how others feel about them. They bonded with each other in ways I couldn't even imagine and they made life-long friends. Both the girls and their parents want to know what's next for I Love Me! Unconditionally... this is just the beginning of what is in store so stay tuned...the best is yet to come!

Friday night after the camp was over I celebrated the success of the week curled up on my couch with a glass of wine and some yummy Chinese food. After I finished eating I opened up my fortune cookie and it read:

"Those who bring sunshine to the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves"

Instantly tears came to my eyes because today I am really feeling the sunshine!

Check out the website to read more about I Love Me Unconditionally.
www.ilovemeunconditionally.com

Educating, Inspiring and Empowering Our Girls!

As a mother of two daughters I know the importance of teaching girls how to love themselves unconditionally. Did you know that 7 out of 10 girls believe they are not good enough or do not measure up in some way, including their looks, their performance in school or their relationships with their families and friends? When I read this statistic it made me wonder just when do our girls lose their self-confidence? When do they go from little girls who do not have a care in the world filled with confidence and self-esteem to girls who are filled with self-doubt who do not love what they see when they look in the mirror? According to The National Report on the State of Self-Esteem, the self-esteem tipping point happens during the transition to teenage years. These years are the most crucial for girls; this is when they stop communication with us - the adults in their lives.

I saw this first hand when my oldest daughter was making this transition...she went from a little girl who would come home everyday and tell me everything that happened in school from first to last period, to a teenager who trusted and confided more in her friends then in me. Now that she is a young adult we are back to the relationship we had when she was younger, but we missed out on some important communication during those teenage years. What is very interesting is that most girls wish to have open and frequent conversations with their parents - but sometimes they don't know how or are not sure what our reactions will be to what is going on in their lives.

Educating, inspiring and empowering young girls to love themselves unconditionally has become one of my biggest passions. I believe in the importance of empowering our girls and helping them build the strength needed to deal with the many challenges they will face in life. It is because of this passion that I started I Love Me Unconditionally, a mentoring program to help girls build healthy, positive self images.

I recently posted about stepping out on faith and following what I believe to be God's purpose for my life. So using my role as a mother and my background as an educator I started the I Love Me Unconditionally mentoring program for girls and I am proud to say that this summer we will be having our very first I Love Me! Summer Camp where girls will participate in fun activities while building a strong sense of self esteem and of course celebrating all that is fabulous about being a girl!

I am so excited about this new endeavor and I believe that if I can help just one girl learn to love themselves unconditionally then I know that I am fulfilling God's purpose for my life!