A group of girls ages 8-12 are taking part in a SMART Girls program at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Hancock County, which is teaching them ways to focus on fitness and health while enhancing their self esteem.
GREENFIELD — A program called SMART Girls is teaching young girls to do some smart thinking in terms of social media, self-esteem, fitness and health.
The Boys & Girls Clubs of America calls SMART Girls “a small-group health, fitness, prevention/education and self-esteem enhancement program designed to meet the developmental needs of girls.”
About a dozen girls between the ages of 8-12 attend the SMART Girls after-school sessions each Tuesday at the Boys & Girls Clubs in Greenfield.
Program director Taylor Gibson customizes each week’s lesson with hands-on projects and interactive conversations to help girls build confidence and navigate the life of a pre-teen girl.
Earlier this week, the girls discussed social media and the importance of finding habits and activities that aren’t tied to a cell phone.
Last week, they each created compliment jars filled with compliments about themselves they can pull out anytime for a confidence boost.
Gibson said each lesson is meant to help young girls embrace health and fitness while navigating what can often be a tricky world, especially due to the omnipresent use of social media and cell phones that tend to increase isolation and self-conscious thinking.
She was surprised to learn that the majority of the younger girls in the group — at 8 years old — had their own cell phones and access to social media.
“Unfortunately that means they start comparing themselves to others at a young age,” said Gibson, 23, who experienced first-hand the challenges of growing up in the age of social media.
On Tuesday, she had the girls make a list of the things they enjoy in life that aren’t connected to their phones or social media, and then had them create a poster depicting a cell phone screen with app icons reflecting the things on their list.
“Some of the girls put things like their families and their siblings and pets, as well as things like coffee, gardening, reading, watching TV and feeling our feelings … things like that,” she said. “The purpose was for them to think outside of their media in terms of what in their life makes them happy, to show that they are able to engage in different things besides just scrolling through their phones all day.”
Gibson said the girls also learned how social media can lead to unjustly comparing themselves to others, which can lead to unrealistic expectations and diminished self esteem.
Whether it’s inaccurate portrayals on social media or the ever-present push to buy the next big thing, she hopes the interactive discussion through Smart Girls can help the girls see through some of the smoke and mirrors social media is known for.
“Even as an adult, I find myself buying things other people buy, so the girls and I talked about that too,” she said.
Gibson also shared her personal experiences of feeling left out as a teenager when she saw other people having fun on social media.
“I talked a lot with the girls about that too, about how we need to take time away from our phones because there’s so much more to life than social media, which doesn’t always give the real picture,” she said.
She’s looking forward to covering other topics — including the value of fitness and health — with the local SMART Girls group as the year progresses, following the Boys & Girls Clubs curriculum while adding in a bit of her own experience to teach about the ins and outs of playing it smart when growing up a girl.
According to the Boys & Girls Clubs guidelines, the program helps members “explore their own and societal attitudes and values as they build skills for eating right, staying physically fit, getting good health care and developing positive relationships with peers and others.”
To learn more or support this and other programs at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Hancock County, visit BGCHC.com.
