a COOL workshop

Batya Greenwald, a teacher at Boulder Community School of Integrated Studies in Colorado, has years of experience watching girls in kindergarten start school hanging out with best friends while others feel left out. As the girls get older sticky friendship problems arise such as bullying and exclusion as friends leave friends to hang out with with more popular schoolmates.

To help young girls address these issues, Greenwald found the Girls Leadership Institute, based in Berkeley, CA, that offers workshops geared towards 2nd graders to fifth graders. The workshops are formulated to help young girls build their leadership skills and to cope with tricky issues of friendship.

Rachel Simmons, co-founder of the Girls Leadership Institute, explains that the workshops are four weeks in length and are offered one night a week in sessions lasting 90 minutes. The sessions explore topics such as standing up for yourself, assertive self-expression, and saying you're sorry. Simmons states, "most of the leadership programs out there for girls teach them how to shake hands or interview for a job, not "internal" leadership skills like emotional intelligence."

Rachel wants the workshops to help girls find the confidence they need to be themselves and wants them to focus on friendships because they are so important, "Friendships are an incredible classroom for girls. They teach girls so many skills, to negotiate, to compromise, to express their needs. Girls face relationship challenges that can be very sophisticated at a very young age and parents of the youngest girls often feel helpless to deal with the mean girl behavior that their daughters experience."

Josh Baldner, Mesa Elementary School Principal, took part in the workshops along side his second-grade daughter this past September and described them as a great opportunity, "They are not just good for girls but for all kids, social skills are not entirely intuitive. In a very fun and safe way, girls learn how to handle normal everyday social situations."

Simmons reiterates that the workshops are fun and allow the girls to be silly, "You are being confident when you don't worry about what other people think."

If you would like more information on the workshops offered by the "Girls Leadership Institute" please checkout their website-www.girlsleadershipinstitute.org.

Here's to the Girls Leadership Institute and the workshops they offer to help young girls navigate those friendship issues that can be tricky and for teaching them to be confident in who they are-stay positive, stay generous, and STAY COOL!

What do you think of the Girls Leadership Institute and the workshops they offer for young girls?