After the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, you might be thinking, “Wow, I need a break!” If you’re a young girl with a female mentor, you’re in luck! “‘She Gives Me a Break from the World’: Formal Youth Mentoring Relationships Between Adolescent Girls and Adult Women” highlights benefits with which female-youth mentoring relationships provide girls:
- Real emotional support;
- Development of new skills and confidence and;
- Companionship that helps them cope with daily stress.
This is the last piece of research on which Strong Women, Strong Girls is focusing for the quarter. In response to the research, Strong Women, Strong Girls is focusing on maximizing the benefits of female mentoring relationships. We’ll provide our college women with strategies to be available to, authentic with and refrain from passing judgment on the girls they mentor.
Additionally, part of providing companionship means having fun together. Strong Women, Strong Girls believes the more mentors prepare for a lesson, the more time they can spend focusing on and engaging with girls. This equals more fun and stronger relationships! To support planning and preparation, Strong Women, Strong Girls student leaders hold weekly meetings on their college campus. They also create a supportive space that fosters relationships with their own peers.
Who are the female mentors in your life? How have they provided you with support? In what ways have they helped you develop skills? How have they offered you companionship?
If you are a woman, how have you been a role model or mentor to a young girl? Not sure? Now is the time to commit to becoming one. January is National Mentoring Month. Visit their website and discover ten ways to support mentoring.