Girls Leadership - Session 1

I'm still on my mission to rid the world of Mean Girls.

As I fervently blogged in October, when I first got on this soapbox, I arranged to have the Rachel Simmons' Girls Leadership Workshops come to our suburb.

The first session was Thursday night.

It was about what I expected. Some silly icebreakers designed for us to open up to each other, learn to make eye contact, and put us all on the same playing field. Rules, such as nothing confidential said in the room leaves the room. The use of pseudonyms whenever possible. Respecting each other. Discussion on the difference between classmates and real friends. Situational role play.

The kids got a lot out of the role play -- seeing which techniques were better for conflict resolution than others. Julia Loonin, the facilitator, did a nice job, and the participants remained actively engaged. I was pleasantly surprised to see the level of disclosure amongst the kids and parents; a lot of this stuff is hard to talk about and uncomfortable, too.

The big takeaway for me was a refresher on the Silver Rule, corollary the Golden Rule: Treat others how they want to be treated. There are sometimes that this is a better choice than is the Golden Rule. Food for thought.