Prepping African American Girls for Success
written by Kim Thomas
Empowerment 101 for African American Teen Girls – Parents Provide the Power
Empowerment is a common term used in discussions about women and girls and it has become very popular. What is empowerment? Merriam Webster’s online dictionary defines the term as:
1 : to give official authority or legal power to
2 : enable
3 : to promote the self-actualization or influence of
If the above definition is correct, then I agree that African American teen girls need empowerment, but that brings about another question. Who does the empowering? We, as parents, have the power and we must promote self-actualization and influence our African American teen girls and young ladies. This significant endeavor includes a combination of education and training geared towards building healthy self-esteem. It also includes exposing teen girls to a variety of opportunities in a loving, supportive, trial and error environment.
Here are 4 key points of Empowerment for African American teen Girls.
A genuine interest – Show your daughter a genuine interest in her efforts to succeed. Do not nag or pressure her. Instead, engender a feeling of independence by letting her act as the driver and you, as the vehicle for helping her reach her goals. Carefully guide her in a non-aggressive yet consistent manner. Place her in the spotlight and esteem her life’s possibilities as an exciting adventure and not a gruesome issue or task. In time, she will surprise you by seeking your advice and your suggestions.
Encouragement- If you know your teenage daughter is interested in a specific career field, help her research programs that she can possibly join now. Take her to local community colleges and allow her to speak with instructors or maybe both of you can sit in on new student orientation for her area of interest. Even if she has a few years before she can attend college, a visit now may help encourage her to establish some goals.
Etiquette classes – Proper social etiquette is essential for teen girls. The training teaches them to feel comfortable and confident at special gatherings. More and more, etiquette programs for girls are becoming popular due to the lack of social skills in today’s’ youth. Find a program that suits your daughter’s needs. Also, find beauty pageants, fashion shows, and prominent community events for her to attend. If you don’t have the money to pay for this types of learning experience, maybe you can speak with a coordinator or program manager and acquire a volunteer position for her at events of this nature. Allow her to learn by doing, and continue this process until she becomes confident and comfortable with speaking and interacting at any function.
Camps, clubs, and mentoring programs – There are non-profit organizations that offer curriculum designed specifically for empowering African American teen girls. Many of the programs include etiquette functions for girls to attend at no charge to the parents. However, if a program does not have African American participants, she can still derive valuable learning experience and training necessary for girls. As long as the program has a well-developed curriculum and qualified staff, she may still benefit from 
it.
Following the above suggestions does not guarantee that your daughter will grow up to be a perfect, successful woman, but it does provide her with memories of quality time well spent and efforts of her parents investment into her future. In the end, you will feel good about trying to help her succeed and she will treasure the journey with her parents as a precious and priceless time during her youthful years.
