The Brave Girl Blog Navigating Friendship Challenges and Confidence

"Remember, You are bigger than your anxiety!"

As the new school year dawns, it's natural for your daughter to feel a whirlwind of excitement, nervousness, and perhaps a touch of anxiety. But guess what? She's not alone in this journey, and with your support, she is stronger than she thinks.

Embracing change, like starting a new school year, can be overwhelming for your daughter, especially with thoughts of shifting friendships, unfamiliar teachers, and navigating multiple classes. But with the right guidance and encouragement, she can tackle these challenges and rediscover her inner strength.

• Embrace Change as Growth:
  Change can be intimidating, but it's also an opportunity for growth. Encourage your daughter to see the new school year as a chance to meet new people, learn exciting things, and discover aspects of herself she never knew existed. Embrace the unknown with an open heart, and you'll find that even the most daunting situations can become rewarding experiences.
• Navigating...

Starting a new school year can be exciting but can also bring challenges, especially for children without close friends in their classes.

Understanding the Emotional Impact:
When a child realizes they're not in class with their close friends, it can trigger strong emotions like sadness, worry, and even anger. Acknowledging and understanding these emotions is crucial for parents. Start by recognizing the significance of the situation and how it might affect your child emotionally. Remember, your child's feelings are valid, and creating a safe space to express themselves without judgment is essential.

7 Tips for Parents

1. Manage Your Own Emotions:
   Parents play a vital role in helping their children cope with these feelings. Begin by managing your own emotions, expectations, and fears. If you've requested specific classmates for your child and the request wasn't met, it's natural to feel upset. However, remaining calm and centered is essential for supporting your child effectively.
2. ...

As parents, we embark on a beautiful journey with our children, witnessing their growth and development at every step.

Along this path, we encounter moments of joy, laughter, and love, but we also face challenges and complexities that can be overwhelming.

As our children grow and navigate new emotions, they may struggle to find the right words to express what's happening inside. That's where the "Feeling Wheel" becomes an invaluable tool – a compass guiding the ups and downs of emotions in our homes or even during car rides.

We want to help our kids to develop their emotional literacy and learn how to describe emotions beyond "Happy," "Sad," "Mad," and "Scared." When we ask our children how they feel, their answers are often limited.

"Happy," "Sad," "Mad," and "Scared" are fundamental emotions, but the richness of our emotional landscape extends far beyond these four labels. The Feeling Wheel unlocks a treasure trove of emotions, giving our children a vocabulary to...

Hi Brave Friends,

This last week in The Brave Girl Tribe, my virtual online community for girls in 5th to 8th grade, one of my girls asked for tips on how to handle if you have a friend that is nice to you but mean to other people and you are starting middle school together in the fall.

It can be a challenging situation to navigate. Here is the advice that I shared with her to help her manage this situation:

1. Recognize their behavior: Acknowledge that your friend might struggle with social skills or feel insecure around new people. This can help you approach the situation with empathy and understanding.

2. Discuss their behavior privately: Find an appropriate time to talk to your friend privately. Express your observations about how they come across to others and how it might affect their ability to form new friendships. Be gentle and non-judgmental in your approach.

3. Offer constructive feedback: Provide specific examples of situations where their behavior may have...

Hi Brave Parents,

As your daughter navigates the challenges of growing up, it's natural for her to encounter moments of disappointment and unfairness. As a parent, you have the power to provide support and help her overcome these hurdles. 

Here are six tips to make the journey easier:

1. Listen and Validate: When your daughter is experiencing disappointment or feelings of unfairness, the first step is to listen to her and validate her feelings. Let her know that you hear her and that her emotions are important.
2. Provide Perspective: Help your daughter put things in perspective by reminding her of all the things she has accomplished and overcome in the past. Encourage her to view setbacks as opportunities to learn and grow.
3. Encourage Positive Self-Talk: Self-talk is a powerful tool for managing emotions. Encourage your daughter to practice positive self-talk by using affirmations such as "I am capable" or "I will overcome this challenge."
4. Help Her Find a Healthy Outlet:...

During a Sunday session for The Brave Girl Tribe, several girls expressed concern about how to respond when boys call them derogatory names, such as the 'B-word.'

I want to start by saying that this behavior is NEVER acceptable. Your daughter needs to know that she deserves to be treated with respect and kindness and that no one has the right to make her feel UNCOMFORTABLE or UNSAFE with their language or actions

As women, many of us have experienced some form of harassment. Educating our daughters about harassment and sharing different examples will help them recognize when they are mistreated and know how to respond. To help your daughter navigate these situations, I wanted to provide some examples of behaviors that may constitute harassment. She needs to be aware of these signs: Unwanted physical contact, such as groping or brushing up against someone in a sexual manner Unwelcome sexual comments, jokes, or gestures Pressure to engage in sexual...

 When Your Daughter is Pushed Out of Her Friend Group: 10 Tips to Help Parents.

When your daughter is pushed out of her friend group, the experience can be very hurtful for her. We may remember this from our own childhood, but when it’s your own daughter, it feels even more heartbreaking.

It could be triggering for you and bring up experiences you thought you had gotten past.

Physical pain and mental pain don’t differentiate when they’re being felt. This pain is real for your daughter. We are a species that wants to be connected, and being excluded is physical pain.

Brave Momma and Brave Girl you are not alone!

Here are tips to help!

1. Make home a safe place to share and express what’s going on. 

The most important thing is not to let your daughter see how upsetting this is for you. This means staying calm if you’re triggered and not threatening to call the parents of the other girls involved. This kind of reaction will probably shut your...