Poem- Being a Girl

Being a girl – Amy Smith

Girls need to be strong and soft

Girls need to act weak and tough

Girls must be pretty and thin and always say they love the gym

Girls must not be too confident or proud

Or flex their muscles or be loud

They must be open but stay closed

They must dream in secret and smell sweet to the nose

And when in doubt, they must strike a pose

But what if we want to be different girls?

Girls who are strong and can lead the world

Girls who are healthy in body and soul

With the strength to rise and they courage to hold

Girls who care about more than skin deep and cherish themselves and reject being ‘sweet’

We need girls to be focused and sharp, who can laugh at the knocks and keep getting up

Girls who will take care of their bodies and have less disease

Who won’t get depressed, or fall to their knees and cry when the going gets tough

Girlpower means taking on the world with a smile

Being fulfilled and not treated like a child

It means learning to say no instead of yes and being brave enough to ask for help

And valuing ourselves and our health and our happiness

So we can, together, be simply and utterly fabulous

  

Written by Amy Smith and presented at the 2012 Alliance of Girls’ Schools Biennial Staff Conference.