A basic fishing pole at Kenco starts at $20, and there are starter kits with hooks, weights and other tackle that start at $30. A compass ($10 and up), said Chando, is handy for an outdoor girl. “You’re not always going to have service or a live battery in your phone.” Other ideas also included a pocket knife ($4 and up) or a multi-tool Leatherman, which starts at $10. Cool headlamps, which both kids and adults love, start at $15.
Unbowed
Hunger Games heroine Katniss Everdeen is my personal ideal and has totally validated the archery range that’s been set up in my yard for years. Kenco sells a child’s archery set for $12.95 that will get your budding archeress a 50-inch fiberglass bow. For $59.95, there’s a set with arrows, a target and a quiver. Flaming suit will cost you extra.
Girls Inc. is an empowerment program that runs through the Ulster and Dutchess YWCA. Its programming is cultivated to inspire girls to be “strong, smart and bold” through research-based programs and advocacy and by addressing “the ‘whole’ girl,” explained program director Mary Farel. “Girls need a support system of people that believe in them. According to research, when we educate a girl we contribute to alleviating poverty and adding to our community’s social capital because they will likely raise their own children and the cycle goes on. Parents and extended family, educators and the community all have a hand in building girls’ self-esteem.”
“There’s the gifts of enrolling your daughter into a gender-specific program where she could be a girl,” YWCA Director Andrea Parks said. Parks suggested if she is athletic, then connect her with the Mid-Hudson Rebels fast-pitch softball league, “who will help give the girl of self-confidence, sportsmanship and a good work ethic.” Parks said to let the girl shine thanks to skills and traits learned in a program, not because they’re in sync with the latest fads and fashions. Parks also suggested the gift of connecting a girl to a female role model and mentor in whatever field she may have expressed interest.
Girls Are Not Chicks, designed and written by locals Julie Novak and Jacinta Bunnell, is a coloring book that takes on patriarchy, street harassment and restrictive dress codes. Also by Bunnell is Sometimes the Spoon Runs Away With Another Spoon — a coloring book that features princesses building rocket ships, beasts who prefer tiny dresses and fancy dogs over scaring people, new ideas in pronouns and marriage equality.
If you want to build up her strength in an individual-type sport, try ice-skating, swimming, skiing or snowboarding. Vanessa Vogt, sales associate at Potter Brothers, said a junior snowboarding package would cost a parent or generous grandparent $300-$400 and includes boots, bindings and a board to get a girl into the mountain action. Also needed are goggles ($30-$130), helmet ($60-$90), jacket ($119-$300) and pants ($99-$200). If your girl is already boarding, you can buy her discount lift tickets through Potter Brothers for Windham, Hunter and JiminyPeak.
Other ideas include horseback riding lessons, martial arts lessons, retreats, a bicycle, yoga classes, art classes and cooking classes. Heather Bunch, regional coordinator for Planned Parenthood suggested Wayfinder sessions, in which kids improvise fantasy role-play and learn combat with homemade sponge swords. They have overnight camps, day camps and weekend events. For more information, visit www.wayfinderexperience.com.
I definitely like this thinking… 🙂
Awesome article!