It feels like it happens…every…day.  You try to calm her down.  Cheer her up.  Wipe away the tears.  It’s breaking your heart and you are running out of things to say.  And, let’s be honest, you’re feeling confused, perhaps a bit triggered and…well…over it.  You want to be a powerful advocate for your girl…heck, maybe even for all girls…but you need a little help.

OMG UR My BFF is a course for parents, educators, and other Girl Advocates that bridges the art and the science of preparing our young girls (elementary-school age) to be happy, healthy, and safe in their relationships.  This course is online, self-paced, and action-packed – giving you, the grown-up, time and space to reflect on the relationships in your own life while gathering the tools and inspiration to help your girl with hers.

Lynn Johnson & Allison Kenny

OMG UR My BFF is taught by Lynn Johnson and Allison Kenny, co-founders of Glitter & Razz and leaders of the Go Girls! movement.  Lynn and Allison are social entrepreneurs, writers, and theater teaching artists working to ignite a compassion revolution by putting girls center stage.  They use their expertise as teaching artists to create a truly enriching learning experience for you and your girl that integrates theater, visual arts, writing, nature, music, and good ole’ fashioned play.  At the end of the course, Lynn and Allison lead you through the process of making your very own play about the lessons you learned that you can share with the larger community of girls and Girl Advocates.

All of our girls desperately want to be and have good friends.  Sometimes, they just don’t know how.  When we Girl Advocates come together to teach them, we are making way for the peaceful and powerful interactions that are needed to make this world a better place.  Are you ready to join the Compassion Revolution?

The course will open June 8 on Udemy.com.  The course consists of 12 self-paced sessions…each are structured just like you were in the room with Lynn and Allison at Glitter & Razz!  The cost is $79.  Find out below how you can receive an early-bird discount.

• Make a Play: Using a series of improvisational theater techniques, Allison leads kids on a theatrical adventure that allows them to enter into the story themselves.
• Learn Important Social/Emotional Skills: In the book, Celia learns how to go from being bullied to being a “Go Girl!”  Based on the Kidpower People Safety Skills curriculum as well as the Go Girls! Methodology, both girls and boys in your community will learn ways to build their compassion muscles to stand up for themselves and each other.
• Go Home with Cool Stuff: Sure, folks can buy books and get them signed by Allison, but she will also give kids and families other tools to help them remember the experience and how to integrate some of what they learned into their everyday lives.

Interested?  Contact us to bring Allison to your school, afterschool program, or community.

Register Now for Go Girls! SF

Online Camp Registration by ACTIVE Network

Here are the reasons why we think your daughter should come to camp here:

1. The Theater: Your daughter will perform on this super cool, very professional stage.  The house seats 140+ which means that there will be plenty of space for grandparents, cousins, and neighbors to show up with flowers, hugs and support for our bold and brave work.

2. The Playground: If you have not been to the Yerba Buena Playground with your kids yet, you don’t know what you are missing.  Clean and safe with incredible slides, a sand castle pit, and amazing climbing structure – your daughter will have the chance to play outside every day.  Check out what other folks say about it on Yelp!

3. Lynn and Allison are teaching here!: The co-founders of Go Girls! Camp, the women who started it all, will be teaching and directing the plays at the San Francisco sessions.  Lynn will be teaching July 8-19 (Theme: OnceUponaTime & Ever After) and Allison will be teaching July 22-Aug 2 (Theme: OMG UR My BFF).  Combined, Lynn and Allison have over 30 years of experience designing and leading innovative arts programming for kids that focus on social/emotional skill development.  Not only do they teach kids, they also teach parents and educators and other teaching artists how to do what they do.  So…

4. Easy Transportation: Yes, it is in the middle of downtown San Francisco.  But, that is what makes it so great.  You can take the BART with your daughter and have a lovely 10 minute walk.  Or, if you are driving, we make it very easy for you with our designated drop off/pick up spot.

4. The Museum Exhibits: Although Go Girls! Camp is based in the theater, we have access to all of the other interactive exhibits as well. Girls will use their creative muscles in the Design Studio, Animation Studio, Imagination Lab, etc.  The work that we do in these spaces will be incorporated into our final play.

Check out this short video from last year’s Go Girls! Camp San Francisco:

Plus…you save $40 on the Go Girls! Camp tuition if you are a member of the Museum!

Summer 2013 Dates at the CCM:

• Session 1: July 8-19
• Session 2: July 22-August 2
• Session 3: August 5-16 This Session of Go Girls! Camp has been cancelled.

Register Now for Go Girls! SF

Online Camp Registration by ACTIVE Network

So far, approximately 160 girls have said YES to being a Go Girl! this Summer.

Now, it’s your turn!

Register for Go Girls! Camp

Camp Technology by ACTIVE Network

And many of these folks have been girls.  

The world woke up in 1963 because of girls.  It was in 1963 that the Ku Klux Klan bombed the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, AL.  The bomb killed 4 young girls – Fourteen-year-olds Addie May Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson and 11-year-old Denise McNair.  The faces and stories of these 4 girls made people stand up and take notice about what was going on around them. The faces and stories of these 4 girls changed the way many people felt about their neighbors and themselves.  The faces and stories of these girls galvanized the movement.

And these girls inspired other girls.  They inspired girls to take action.  In our Go Girls! Camps, one of the first lessons of the first week is Say Yes!  The concept of Saying Yes in Go Girls! is all about supporting girls to know that they have what it takes to face anything the world has to offer – the good stuff and the really hard stuff – and say:

• I welcome new challenges and I try my best.
• I know anything that I am feeling is okay.
• I can keep myself safe & am ready for anything.

When girls Say Yes to the challenges that lie before them, they can move mountains.  As we continue to celebrate the incredible impact that the Civil Rights Movement has had over the last 50 years, let’s celebrate the girls who dared to Say Yes.  Here are 4 Honorary Go Girls! you may not have heard of.  All of these girls saw the challenges in front of them and dared to Say Yes to be part of the solution.  In addition, they all shared their stories with the world inspire the rest of us to Say Yes.  Share their stories with your girls.

Ruby Bridges said yes and Went to School

“[My dad] thought things weren’t going to change, and blacks and whites would never be treated as equals. Mama thought I would have an opportunity to get a better education if I went to the new school – and a chance for a good job later in life. My parents argued about it and prayed about it. Eventually my mother convinced my father that despite the risks, they had to take this step forward, not just for their own children, but for all black children.

A federal judge decreed that Monday, November 14, 1960 would be the day black children in New Orleans would go to school with white children. There were six of us chosen to integrate the city’s public school system. Two decided to stay in their old schools. The other three were assigned to McDonough. I would be going to William Frantz alone.” READ MORE>>>

Anne Moody said yes and Turned Her Anger into Action

Emmett Till was killed in Mississippi when Anne was just a freshman in high school.  Before that happened, she wasn’t really paying attention to what was happening around her.  After that happened, Anne was angry.  Very angry.  At everybody – the white adults who were perpetrating this violence and the black adults who she thought were letting it happen.  She dared to feel her feelings and turn these feelings into her work as an activist.  She wrote about her life and work in her book, Coming of Age in Mississippi.

Janie Forsyth said yes and Stood Up for Others

When a bus carrying Freedom Riders was attacked by an angry mob of adult white men outside of her home in Alabama, Janie saw people hurting and knew she had to help, even at the risk of her own safety.  ”Those desperate voices, raw with smoke, propelled [her] to do something. The 7th grader ran into the house, washed out a bucket, filled it with water, grabbed some cups and went into the crowd. ‘I couldn’t just stand there and do nothing,’ she said.  READ MORE>>>

Sheyann Webb and Rachel West said yes and Dared to Lead

These little girls didn’t let the fact they were just 8 and 9 years old get in their way of being leaders.  Growing up in Selma, AL during the fight for voting rights, they heard older folks talking in church and knew they had to be part of this and they didn’t let anyone stop them.  Their book, Selma, Lord, Selma, tells their story of growing up during this time and of how they drew their parents and other adults into the work with them.

Go Girls! from last summer at Frog Park in Oakland.

Go Girls! Camp registration has been open for 1 week and have already had to open a waitlist.  Isn’t that incredible?!?  We keep telling everyone that Go Girls! cannot be stopped and y’all are certainly proving it.

Here is the Update:

• Our original site in Rockridge, of course, is attracting a bunch of returning girls and their friends.  Because of other programming
  

  College Avenue Presbyterian Church. The original Rockridge home of Go Girls!

  at the church, we are only doing two sessions at the Rockridge location, so 1/2 of the spots are already taken.

• It is very important to us that each camp session represent the broadest age range of girls so, we have set up the registration so that we can monitor and balance the number of “Glitter” girls (rising 1st-3rd graders) and “Razz” girls (rising 4th-6th graders).  You can learn more about our age breakdown philosophy here.  Mamas of younger girls are moving faster than the others, so the “Glitter” Groups in Oakland are pretty much full.
• Go Girls! Camp is in our 3rd year at the Berkeley site and is also attracting a ton of activity.  There are more sessions here so we will take a little longer to sell out.  But we are definitely on the path to summer sell outs.

So, what can you do to make sure that you definitely have your spot in Go Girls! this summer?

1. Register Now.  You only need to pay 20% of the tuition to hold your place with the balance due May 31.  This way you can get it over with.  Plus, you will lose the early bird price after Feb 15 anyway so…this is a good strategy.  Click here to register or Visit the JCC to register for camps in Berkeley.
2. 

   Go Girls! from last summer at the Children’s Creativity Carousel in San Francisco

   Consider one of our new sites.  The Rockridge site might be closer to your home but, maybe you commute to San Francisco for work or you have a cousin in Santa Cruz you can stay with for a week.  Based in museums, these camps will have their very own flavor that will only enhance the Go Girls! experience.  For example, Go Girls! in San Francisco will perform their play on a professional stage and have the opportunity to play on the playground at Yerba Buena everyday.  Go Girls! in Santa Cruz will interact with the museum itself and work with fabulous guest artists associated with that community.  You might want to think about a change of scenery.

3. Get on the Waitlist.  Maybe you are just now sure yet.  You’re not ready to pay a deposit or think about travel arrangements.  That’s fine too.  No worries.  By putting yourself on the waitlist early, you can let us know that you are out there thinking about us and will get back in touch with us when you have figured out your plans.  Plus, if we sell out more sessions before you decide, you will already be at the top of the waitlist and will have a much better chance of getting in.

Gratitude isn’t just for Thanksgiving anymore. But the holiday is a good place to start.

Last week, I hosted my first big family dinner including 14 folks from 3 different families, 6 kids and 2 little dogs. We did that thing. You know, the one where you pause over your sweet potatoes and go around the circle so each and every person shares what they are grateful for. Always, there is a groan or an eye roll but everybody does it. In my house, we passed around a tiny pumpkin so you would know it was your turn. Even as a gratitude advocate, I was surprised and amazed by the magic feeling that swept through my little house as people shared. Gratitudes are vulnerable. They help people focus on the good in their lives, even if that takes a moment to remember. Being thankful and saying so outloud is an act of courage, if you ask me. And on our holiday, it bonded people. After sharing and listening to one another, all 6 of the kids in my house ages 2-14 went into the backroom and had a spontaneous dance party. It didn’t matter that some had just met that day- they rocked out and had the time of their lives. Sure, it could have been the sugar intake, but I like to think it was the gratitudes.

According to the Greater Good Science Center out of UC Berkeley, it’s a scientific fact that practicing gratitude makes us happier, healthier people. For the Go Girls! at Glenview Elementary, I frame it like this:

“Gratitude is like a superpower. When you are feeling negative or angry or lost or sad or scared, try remembering the things in life that make you feel happy- the things that you are thankful for. These thankful or grateful feelings can lift you up and help you feel better. Gratitude makes us happy.” Then we got to work making our very own Gratitude Journals. Simple. Tiny books. Girls love to fill them with sketches, lists, poems, watercolor, stickers- whatever they can get their hands on. And the focus is gratitude, or as I tell the littlest girls if they look confused, “parts of life that make you feel happy.” I asked the girls to choose a special place where they could keep these journals and come work in them when they need to use their power of gratitude. One 4th grader decided to tape hers to the back of her frog’s cage. Whatever works! Go forth and be grateful.

Check out a few tips from parenting expert and Go Girls! mom, Christine Carter on practicing gratitude at home with your kids.

Write or draw about things you are thankful for

Collaboration is a skill that we all want our kids to have- those gorgeous moments where we get to see them running with friends on a playground, deeply engrossed in play with no conflict, or working side by side on a project where they don’t need us grown-ups to step in. These experiences come easy for some kids some of the time. But most kids- and many grown-ups by the way, could use help deconstructing the skills it actually takes to work together. In our weekly Go Girls! Lunch Club, we take the little time we have together to practice collaborating.  I break collaboration down into little sound bytes the kids will hear me use over and over again. Simple phrases stick and create a common language that unites all the kids in the room. Feel free to borrow these phrases and try em out at home or in your classroom!

1. “Welcome new girls  into the group.” How can anybody work together if they are afraid they’ll get rejected or teased for their ideas? Not only is being welcoming a ground rule at Go Girls!, but it’s a skill we practice. Each week, I remind the girls to wave as new girls come into the room. Gently, I remind children to smile at one another or “try a friendly voice” if their frustration is beginning to show. I don’t allow saving seats but instead encourage girls to wave one another over and call out, “come, sit by me” to anyone who seems unsure where to sit. These kinds of welcoming skills grow quickly and become more authentic over time- creating a vibe of caring instead of cliques.
2. “Everybody gets a job.” Children need to know what their role is in any given situation. Isn’t that true of us adults, too? I know I function much better in any group when I’m super clear about who is in charge and how I can contribute. In Go Girls!, I choose a greeter each week to sit at the welcome table and remind girls to sign in as they arrive. I make it clear when girls perform what their role is on stage versus when they are in the audience. I start sentences with “Your job is…” or “Will you be in charge of…” or “You get to be the boss of…” I also remind them when I get to be in charge of something because like it or not, kids feel safer when they are clear the adult is in charge.
3. “Let’s all do the same thing at the same time.” Simple. Going through experiences together creates bonding. For my family over the holidays, this will mean rowdy karaoke. For Go Girls!, it means singing and dancing to the Go Girls! song each week when they arrive. Written by myself and world musician, Kelly Takunda Orphan Martinez, this song makes a way for girls to rock out to messages of empowerment…an experience today’s radio channels often fail to offer (in my humble opinion.)
4.  “Say Yes to Keep the Fun Going!”  And “No to things hurt you or others.” This month in Go Girls! we did lots of role plays to explore this theme. Eye rolling, crossed arms, scowls or blatant protesting are all things that stop the fun in any game or group process. Being willing to go along with others’ ideas is part of collaboration and something most of us can use practice on.  Because “saying yes” is one of the basic rules of improv, theater games are a perfect way to practice going with the flow. Glenview 4^th graders LOVE the drama game “bus stop”, and our littlest actors will play “Yes Let’s” all day long. Part of creating an experience where it feels safe to “say yes” also means practicing “saying no” when someone or something crosses your boundary.
   
5. “Put your ideas together!” Most kids are familiar with taking turns or compromise. As they get good at these collaboration skills, however, it’s great to help them practice putting their ideas together. For example, if one first grader is dying to go on the swings but the other wants to play house, why not pretend to be a family playing together on the backyard swingset? This kind of flexible thinking not only creates more fun and lengthened periods of play, but it’s critical for problem solving as girls grow.  Our oldest Go Girls! found lots of places in their everyday lives where they practice putting ideas together- like on the soccer field (I pass to you, you score the goal) or when making up dances with friends.

Wanna see all this collaboration in action? Check us out!

Summer 2013 Dates at the JCC:

• Session 1: June 17-28
• Session 2: July 8-19
• Session 3: July 22-August 2
• Session 4: August 5-16

Go Girls! Camp registration opens Jan 2!

Sign in at lunch recess on Fridays.

                                                                                                                       Girls at Glenview are headed to Portable One for the Go Girls! Lunch Club on Fridays.  Our sound byte for September is that “Part of being safe is having rules.” I intro’d this during our orientation last week to the 130 girls who came through to find out what Go Girls! is all about. I explained- Go Girls! is about having a special place where girls get to come practice having courage, compassion and connection to themselves and each other. We’ll paint. We’ll dance. We’ll create plays. Sometimes there will be candy. There will always be support for conflicts that come up. They can ask to check in with me one on one or with a group of friends and I’ll make time.

But before we can get to any of this, there has to be rules. Rules help kids feel safe. Rules create a common language, a culture where physical and emotional safety is a priority. Go Girls! is a place where girls can count on a safe container to be creative within. We don’t just talk and listen about rules. We play with them, jump inside them, wrestle with them and make them come alive.

 This past Friday, our Kindergarten and 1st grade girls enacted “Once Upon a Time” stories to show what our rules look like in real life. Our 2nd and 3rd graders created stage pictures as living images of our rules in action. Our 4th and 5th graders directed one another in dance performances of our rules. They wanted these performances filmed and to see themselves in action (video to come!) This work sets the tone of a year where girls at Glenview can feel safe and powerful enough to take center stage in their own lives.

Use your Kidpowerto be safe.

Follow the school rules.

Say Yes to trying new things.

Be welcoming and open your heart to new girls in the group.