Postive Posters

During the latest Girls Group, I asked the girls to fill a large piece of paper with only positive messages for young women.  The girls came up with some very clever sayings about being yourself and embracing your attributes.  A couple of my favorites were "In a world where you can be anything, be yourself," and "Don't judge a girl by her cover."  Great job girls.  It was a fun, laid back group.  We touched on what our next meeting would cover, which is relational aggression.  They all seem very eager to discuss, for lack of a better term, "DRAMA!"

I preparation for our next meeting,  I have asked the girls to think about situations they have been in where they have been relationally aggressive, or they have participated in another's relational aggression toward another girl.

Covering this topic with young women is always touchy.  In our discussions we will not be using names or putting anyone down.  That would be counter productive.  Instead it will be more reflective.  I will ask the girls to look at their own behaviors/actions and hopefully teach them to recognize when they are  being relationally aggressive.

I will also be sending home a few questions for girls to ask other women in their lives.  These questions are simply conversation starters and girls can ask any woman they feel comfortable talking to including: grandmothers, aunts, sisters, friends, moms, friends' moms, teachers, counselors, etc...

As always, please contact me with questions at 792-8020.

Girls Group 2011-2012

This week in group we continued our discussion on body image and the media.  Over the past 2 weeks girls were to try and pay more attention to advertising and how females are portrayed.  They were also supposed to point out a particularly poor ad to someone in their family.  In 7th grade group the girls held a great discussion regarding the ads that they had seen.  There were no shortage of commercials and print ads that they noticed and shared with the group.  Some of the ads mentioned were Sundrop soda and Ax Body Spray.  The girls did a wonderful job noticing the objectifying of women and girls in these ads.  Their next assignment is to write a generic letter to an advertising executive stating the negative effects that unrealistic models have on young girls' body image.

8th grade group also did a great job noticing negative ads.  They were particularly distressed by the Victoria's Secret catalog and television commercials.  During group we filled out subscription cards (the annoying cards that often fallout of magazines and newspapers and can be filled out to receive a subscription) from popular magazines asking them to use realistic models in their ads.  These cards are often no postage necessary.  We also wrote letters to younger girls about how not to judge themselves based on images that they see in the media.  The girls had plenty of positive things to say to the next generation of young women.  These letters, along with the 7th grade letters will be used in a display that we will be making during our next group.

After our display is made, the next subject we will be tackling will be relational aggression among young women (aka drama!)  I really think it will be another eye opening experience and chance for growth with the girls.  We all have experienced the rumor mill, exclusion, or attacks on our reputations at the hands of other girls.  Hopefully the girls will learn to recognize it for what it is, and move passed it.  Maybe even more importantly, they will learn how not to be guilty of it themselves.

As always if you have any questions, concerns, or ideas for group please feel free to contact me at the Middle School at 712-792-8020.