Helping girls achieve healthy bodies and brains

By Mary-Justine Lanyon

 

The focus of the Every Girl Counts meeting on Dec. 11 at Mary Putnam Henck Intermediate School was achieving healthy bodies and brains.

The program – sponsored by Soroptimist International of Rim of the World – is open to girls in sixth, seventh and eighth grade at the school and is held after the school day ends.

Lupe McDonald opened the program by leading the girls in some yoga. At its conclusion, she asked the girls if their bodies felt different, adding that hers did.

The girls then broke up into two groups, with one conducting an experiment with an egg and the other listening to and interacting with Ruth Lester, a retired licensed marriage and family therapist.

As Lauralea Hopper and Kathleen Cummings started the egg experiment or game, Hopper noted that it can be complicated at middle school. “Sometimes all it takes is a little bit of kindness to brighten your day,” she said.

Picking up an egg, Hopper said that the egg – named Agatha by one group of girls – was not having a good day. She drew a face on it and then carefully dropped it into a container of water.

The egg sank to the bottom. “She is at the bottom of her world,” Hopper said. “Why do you think that is?”

The girls had a variety of answers: She is socially awkward. She suffers from social anxiety. Her parents are fighting. She is hungry. Her crush dated her sister.

“How could you help her feel more positive about life?” Hopper asked. Again, the girls had a variety of things they could tell her: I love your creativity. You are a diva queen. I could buy her lunch. We could walk home together and talk. You are an excellent friend. You can talk to me about your day. You are beautiful. I love what you’re wearing.

As the girls came up with each suggestion, they poured a bit of “magic water” into the container. With each pour, the egg rose slightly in the container until it was at the top. Later Hopper told the girls the magic was salt.

“We all need to hear positive things,” she said.

Meanwhile, the other group of girls met with Lester. Anxiety and depression, Lester said, are two of the most common complaints. They can be caused by a situation, poor nutrition, family history.

“What do you do when you feel down or burned out?” she asked. One girl said she screams. “Good – get it out,” Lester said. Another said she talks to someone she knows well. “Someone you trust,” Lester commented. Another listens to music; another goes to a gym and boxes; and another cries. “That is cathartic,” Lester said.

“You already have some adaptive ways of coping,” she noted.

Lester then led the girls in a breathing exercise, telling them to breathe in for three beats, hold it for three, exhale for three and hold it for three. That, she said, can be very soothing.

If you feel the world is against you, she advised, “think of three things you want. Breathe those three words in and then exhale three things you want to get rid of.”

Lester stressed the importance of eating breakfast – putting fuel in your body before starting your day. She reminded the girls that cell phone screens can interfere with sleep as they can reduce melatonin production.

Establish a bedtime routine, she urged. Taking a shower can wash the day away.

“If you are feeling bad, the best way to get over it is to do something kind for someone else,” Lester said. One girl shared that she had volunteered at a soup kitchen for homeless people.

Building on the sentiment of doing something kind, the girls all filled bags with gloves, beanies, scarves, socks, bathing wipes, Hershey’s kisses and candy canes for the Mountain Homeless Coalition to distribute as Christmas gifts. Sue Walker, president of the Coalition, told the girls about their mission.

The girls’ final project was creating bookmarks to put in the books that were gifted to them – copies of Whoops I’m Awesome by Melissa Villaseñor. The book is filled with Villaseñor’s original art, stories and reflections as well as opportunities for the girls to journal and meditate.