Girls on the Run

I recently signed up to be a Girls on the Run Coach at my daughters' elementary school.  Neither of my daughters were interested in running, and they already had other activities that met during the Girls on the Run meetings.  But I wanted to help girls with running, and maybe get an extra workout or two in for myself.

I originally thought Girls on the Run was just about running, like a track team.  I ran track in middle school and some in high school.  I wasn't the fastest, but I could run the 440 (once around the track) and 880 (twice around) okay.  I hated the mile, that was way too far for me back then.  At my training class for Girls on the Run I found out that in addition to running,  there are also lessons the girls learn about empowering themselves and others.  The lessons generally encourage the girls to be their best self, and to be good people.

This past week it was my turn to teach the lesson.  It was about negative self talk, and how to change it. Part of the activity involved the girls writing their negative self talk sentences on stickers that we stuck onto a balloon.  At the end of our run, we all helped to pop the balloon and throw it in the trash.  This hopefully got rid of our negative self talk.  I looked at what these girls had written before we popped it.  Keep in mind these are 3rd - 5th graders.  There were several, "I'm fat," and several "I hate my hair."  None of these girls are fat!  And why on earth would an 8 year old hate her hair?  What the heck is happening to our girls? What kind of messages are we sending them?

I realized that I engage in negative self talk on an almost daily basis. I've told myself I'm fat a million times.  I've struggled with my weight all of my life.  Isn't this the real reason why I signed up for Girls on the Run?  How was I supposed to tell these girls to accept themselves, when I can't do that for myself?  I told the girls at the end of our session that if there was something they didn't like about themselves, they had the power to change it.  But they also needed to find something they liked about themselves, too, and that could be their focus instead of the negatives.  Easier for me to say that to the girls, than to actually do it myself.  I guess it's a work in progress, no matter what the age.