Recently I was shopping with my eight-year-old daughter when I noticed that phrase, #LikeAGirl, again. It was plastered bling-style across a tee-shirt in my little girl’s favorite store. While she thought nothing of it (really?), the words sent me flash-backing to 1980-something when I played softball and had my own Like A Girl experience sans the hashtag. I wondered, what did my daughter think of this phrase made popular a few months ago by the critically acclaimed Super Bowl commercial? Would girls, as they take to the softball fields, soccer fields, tennis courts, and more this spring, hear those three implicit words? How might they interpret them? I decided to find out in my own Mom Experiment: #LikeAGirl. Take a look.
I thought this campaign was incredible and am so thankful you have given it more light. I love the idea of being specific in a positive manner…much more constructive as well as helpful. We are all individuals and should be celebrated for our strengths, male or female.
Love that girls and redefining and giving new meaning to the phrase “like a girl.” Thank you for spreading the message of empowering our girls to own their destiny!
Thanks, Michelle! I thought the young girl’s comment at the end of the piece was especially poignant.
Love this story! I am constantly trying to make all my girls realize they can do anything a boy can do and that it isn’t about gender.
Agreed, Elizabeth! It’s interesting – the Like A Girl commercial drew a lot of opinion – good and bad – after it aired during the Superbowl. A sports performance trainer with whom my children train – my sons and daughter – says its important to critique and coach with specifics in a positive manner – – Run faster, throw with all you’ve got. Put your core into it – – so many other phrases and word choices can be used rather than telling someone he or she is doing something “like a girl”.