Monday, August 4, 2008

Sporty Girls and Sporty Moms

Most everyone understands that sports are great for a girl's health and self-esteem. You may not realize how much mothers influence their daughter's attitude about sports and their participation. There is a great website called Moms Team which has lots of great resources for youth sport parents. Currently they have a wonderful article posted:


Raising An Athletic Daughter: Moms Play Key Role
Helping Your Daughter Develop a Love For the Game
By
Brooke de Lench

Please see the link above for the actual article
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She does a nice job pointing out all the little things a mom can do to encourage her girl athlete besides cheering her on during a game: participating in organized sports herself, talking about her own athletic past, going to see professional/college level women's teams play, encourage father's to "play rough", play catch, take girls' sports just as seriously as boys'. The author also encourages parents to talk to daughters about the term "tomboy" and how to overcome the label since it implies that girls who love sports are inappropriately masculine. I always preferred the term "sporty girl" to tomboy. But I really wish that girls were expected to be as athletic as boys so no special term for athletic girls was necessary.

I also wish our local girls' soccer league will stop making the girl teams play in baby pink, lavender or baby yellow jerseys. Why do boys get more colors???? Why do the girls have to have a different palette? I wonder if the rules are the same.......I surely hope so. My daughter is still playing coed under 6 soccer. I hope that soon the sports world will be gender blind as far as uniforms, playing fields, practice times, coaching experience and school support. If you find disparity in your daughter's sports team vs. the corresponding boy's team, don't be afraid to speak up about it.


I have the above design and more sporty girl designs up on my smart girls store. I hope to make many more soon!

1 comment:

Rajeshree said...

Want to help reduce your daughter’s risk of osteoporosis in her later years? Enroll her in gymnastics.

Various studies and medical experts are now touting the benefits of gymnastics (and other sports) for building strong bones.
here on

goodparenting.co.in i found some related article on sports for daughters