Like a Girl

by ParentCo. February 02, 2015

A maxi-pad commercial in the Super Bowl last night made me tear up. You may have already seen the Always commercial from last summer called "Like a Girl" where men and women of all ages talk about what it means to "play like a girl." It has over 54 million hits on YouTube. That one made me tear up too. I teared up because it reminded me of my own frustrations playing and learning new sports as a girl. I was competitive. I wanted to do anything the boys could do, but better. I have been known to grab a boy by the hoodie and pull him to the ground after he beat me in a race. It was that bad. I find my daughter shares the same frustrations. One day in the car she asked, "Mommy, how do you change the law? Because I want to change the law that only boys can play professional baseball." She's only six-years-old, yet she's already frustrated by the limitations she feels as a young girl who loves sports. It's important to me that my daughter grows up with strong female role models. I never want her to think "playing like a girl" is a bad thing. I want it to make her proud to play like a girl, throw like a girl, and run like a girl. This is why I get out on a snowboard or skateboard with her. It's why I put her in skate clinics with other girls. It's why I constantly look for videos or films with strong female athletes in them, so she will always know that playing like a girl is exactly what she wants to do. And every once in a while it's nice to hear her say, "Look at my mom! She's killing it!"


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