Raising my Daughters to Play #LikeaGirl

This is a sponsored post for Always.

A girl’s puberty is a very big time in her life. It can literally make or break an event or situation.  Although this is a big moment in their life, most girls go through a lot because of all the new things they are experiencing. One of the things that a young girl experiences with the coming of puberty is the beginning of a lack of confidence. When it came to my two daughters this was something they dealt with as well.

Throughout the beginning of her period, my oldest daughter was very active in sports and school clubs. Whenever she had any emotions, she felt she needed to let go she channeled that into her sports. If she felt like she wanted to give her attention to something else, she used that energy to help any of the clubs she was in. The point is that these things helped her in more ways than one. Another example of the way my daughters’ outside activities would help was by building her confidence. It didn’t take long to see the correlation between her participation in her clubs/sports and her confidence.

All through their lives, my daughters have always found that doing what they love helps motivate them to achieve their goals. With so much that is on their plate something like period poverty was something that had the power to influence their day to day lives. There were many times that we did not have the money to buy  products  and we would use toilet paper so we could go on with our days. The girls wanted to miss sports’ practices, games, and clubs. It broke me as a mother when I saw the negative effect it had on my girls. When they had a big event or a big game the next day that happened to align with their period, there were only two things that would happen. The first being if they didn’t have the proper protection they needed, it led to having a rough start to their day or event. The other scenario was when they were prepared for their period and were able to give complete focus to their task that day.

 

However hard it got, it was always important to show that just because they were on their period didn’t mean that it had to be viewed as something that could slow them down. Because of this, my daughters have learned to view what they go through as a source of power. Because of the way they have learned how to power through their experiences, it has given them the confidence they need to defeat any problem that arises and to not let anything get in their way, especially when it comes to their periods.

 

The Always Live #LikeAGirl video gives a first-hand view of the struggles many girls in the United States and the world have when it comes to period poverty. It’s a real thing! We have been through it, and I am so happy that Walmart and Always are partnering together to help #EndPeriodPoverty.

 

What This Movement Means to Me- Kiera’s Point of View

All through my life, I have always been taught that what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger. This is especially true in dealing with my own periods. Even though there were times when it could get the better of me, I was always ready to fight back. When it came to my sports especially, I tried to never miss a beat. Things like my extra activities outside of school or outside of home mean a lot to me. When it came to my period trying to get in my way it was always very important to me to learn how to not let anything remotely get in my way. This movement is very important to me because it shows that all girls will be given the chance to realize that nothing will be able to get in their way.