Growing Girls With Purpose
May 25th, 2010 — Education
Ainsley is finishing up the 2nd grade.
She scored the most reading points in her class.
When she finished the highest reading goal in early May, she spend the remainder of the time helping her friends reach the same goal.
The four students who made the goal had a special lunch with their teacher.
We are very proud of her for being both an excellent reader and an excellent leader.
April 26th, 2010 — Education
April 7th, 2010 — Education
Kids love reading.
At least my kids do.
Here’s a handy little parenting tip you can try to make them simply adore it: 2 bedtimes.
The first one, the kids get ready for bed – brush teeth, pajamas, drink, yada, yada. We do it at 7:30, pick the time that works for your family. Once they are in bed, it’s Reading Time.
Half an hour later, Lights Out. Turn your brain off, go to sleep.
This gives kids 30 minutes of reading time, every day, seven days a week, school and summer.
Reading before bed is a great habit I’ve carried through my entire life. It has served me well. I’ve read thousands of books, learned a great deal and quieted my mind and body so that it is in rest mode before I peacefully nod off. It works for kids too.
Show me the kid who’d rather go to bed than stay up and read for 30 minutes.
March 15th, 2010 — Education
There once was a weird looking lady.
She had two heads, two arms and no legs.
She had to roll everywhere!
She had a Kitten.
It was normal.
And very cute.
The End.
~ Ainsley
Ainsley won her first media contest, a original Dr. Seuss-like Poster. She beat out everyone in the 2nd Grade.
We’re so proud of her.
February 15th, 2010 — Education, Feminine Heritage
The White House Project, a non-profit which aims to put a woman in The White House as President of the United States, has some great insight and advice on women’s relationship with personal finance.
Several different studies by researchers at Pepperdine University, McKinsey & Co., Catalyst and others—here and abroad—have found a strong, positive link between company profits and the number of women in senior positions.
Whether that means female managers elicit better performance—or that successful companies promote more women, it’s hard to say.
All we know is that the link between leadership and finance falls apart for many women when it comes to their personal finances.
Here we are, at the helm of our own lives, and the personal financial outlook for our gender could hardly be more bleak. Women lag behind men in terms of income, personal savings, retirement savings, general financial knowledge. Even now.
The underlying factors are too numerous for this email. But we’d like to draw attention to one that often afflicts female (and some male) leaders, especially in the public sector, where salaries are often sacrificed in the name of some greater good: meaningful work, civic duty, and so on.
Being able to value something above the number of zeros in your salary is wonderful, but not if you end up mired in what money coach Mikelann Valterra calls, “noble poverty.”
When you live in noble poverty, you tend to believe there is some unnamed virtue in not having money—or that Truly Good People shouldn’t want a lot of it. Your mantra could be something like: “I may be struggling, but my life is about more than money.”
The danger occurs when we deny ourselves the opportunity to earn what we need to thrive—and to truly give back to others.
Here’s the bottom line: No one is going to fix financial inequity for women. We have to recognize our own self-worth, ask for higher salaries, become confident investors, and build our own wealth — especially those of us who strive to lead.
Why? Because to be effective female leaders, it’s critical that we:
* Understand and manage systems. Systems enable order and growth, personally and organizationally.
* Be comfortable enough financially to make the choices, or take the risks that will best enable our success.
* Carve new paths away from the cultural patterns that leave millions of women in poverty (not just the noble kind).
* Offer young women and men a new model to emulate.
The email then goes on to encourage women to sign up for a newsletter about personal finance for women, DailyWorth.
