Amy L. Sullivan
Recently, a friend told me I have six more summers with my daughter. Six. Six summers until we are outfitting my girl’s dorm room. Six summers until the world calls her an adult. Six summers until my daughter no longer bounces around our house chomping on sour cream and chive potato chips. Six.
How can this be? I just delivered the girl last week. Last week, I gave birth, and the doctors and nurses told my husband and I we could take our baby home from the hospital. We thought this was an insane idea. I mean, hello, we just met the kid, and we didn’t know anything about babies. We put our girl in a very uncomfortable (but extremely adorable) outfit. We fumbled with the dreaded, fifty pound bucket seat, and then we slowly drove forty-five miles an hour and headed home.
“What are we supposed to do now?” I wondered aloud. My husband shrugged, and we decided to go to Burger King (?). I ordered onion rings, and that is the last thing I remember, onion rings.
Now, I only have six more summers with my beauty, the one who is all legs and full of endless stories and high-pitched giggles. The one who forces me to open my eyes wide and sip each day slowly.
And it was this thought which prompted me to think about our summer series, Strong Girls Can.
Our family has loads of unscheduled summer lounging in our future (trust me, we dominate spending time together in a nonstructured way), but I also want to be intentional with my girl. Therefore, every Monday from now through mid-August, we are going to talk about our girls, and I’d love for you to join us.
Extreme goodness including an essay contest for tweens and teens, special guest interviews, free girly loot, product and book reviews, and photo challenges is all planned.
So what do you say? Are you in? Fingers crossed, fingers crossed.
My prayer is the conversations we start here trickle down into the conversations you have with your girl.
Participation is easy. Just show up here each Monday.
Ready? Let’s do this.
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To kick-off our series, my girl and I made this list for you. It is a list promoting independence and adventure. This list longs to hang on your refrigerator. Go ahead, and take down the school lunch menu, and you will have the perfect spot for it (scroll down, and you can print it off because it is also a snazzy printable). This list contains 88 acts of adventure and independence for girls. It lists perfect ways to spend time together, starting points for conversations, ideas for battling the beast of boredom, and reminders for our girls to play hard. Plus, if your girl is anything like mine, she loves a good checklist, and her little adventurous self can check off items as she goes.
Understand how-to use a circuit breaker
Learn to code
Tread water
Determine if someone has a fever
Identify editable flowers
Create a short film
Read a book in one day
Catch a baseball
Make a slingshot
Rock climb
Design a website
Identify local trees
Iron
Create an outdoor fort
Check the oil in a car
Throw a Frisbee
Memorize Scripture
Throw a baseball
Sew a button
Make an obstacle course
Play jacks
Paddleboard
Understand how-to consume information online (in a healthy way!)
Design a kite that really flies
Make jam
Mow the grass
Learn to use a hammer
Catch a frog
Complete a 1000 piece puzzle
Climb a tree
Run a 5K
Drive a boat
Make bread
Volunteer
Bake a cake from scratch
Grow vegetables
Learn two jump rope songs
Build a zipline
Play football
Come up with a catchphrase
Build a fire
Learn how-to mind map
Kayak
Say no
Learn a new languag
Chop wood
Sew curtains
Make a candle
Design and build a mini-waterpark
Put a chain on a bicycle
Pitch a tent
Paint a room
Create a budget
Reupholster a chair
Study bees
Use a rope swing to jump into a lake
Write a poem
Read a map
Handwrite a two-page letter
Learn basic substitutions for cooking
Learn how-to treat minor burns
Start a rock collection
Invent something new
Take a class
Do a handstand in the lake
Learn to ride a horse
Stand up for a friend
Play a musical instrument
Treat a minor cut
Learn to skateboard
Identify poison ivy
Hang a swing in a tree
Put a chain back on a bike
Read a book over 100 years old
Inflate a flat bike tire
Cook over a campfire
Speak in front of a group
Ride a bike no-handed
Write a book
Jump a car
Play hopscotch
Design a video game
Attend a rally
Ride a skateboard
Hike a mountain
Read the Bible
Try out for something
Ask for help when you need it
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Should you want a copy of our list, ’tis yours (Strong Girls Can: 88 Acts of Independence and Adventure). Should you want to create your own Strong Girls Can list, do it!
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I will see you next Monday, friends.
Until then, keep me posted on strong girl happenings in your house.
Share photos of what your strong girl is up to (or have her share them) via social media or email me pics at AmyLSullivan12.com. Make sure to tag me and use the hashtags #StrongGirlsCan and #RaisingGirls. Here’s to summer, strong moms, and strong girls!
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