Did you know that today is International Day Of The Girl?
There are many girls in my life I want to celebrate. I have my daughter, of course, and students, friends, and strangers. One way I want to celebrate is to share a few recent experiences with you. Last month I was lucky enough to get a sneak peek at a wonderful film, He Named Me Malala was brilliant. In this film not only do you get to be inspired by Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai and her story of incredible survival, but you also get to hear from her brothers about how she’s not always so sweet to them and is really very normal.
Her story is anything but normal, though. If you are not familiar with her this trailer can explain it better than I can.
The film is at times intense and not suitable for preschoolers or very young school age children, I think the best way to decide if your child is ready is to read about Malala’s story first and to check out the resources available on the Malala Fund website . I have shared the story through picture books with both my children who are 5 and 8 but know that there is no special age when someone is ready, still I urge you to share this story and her fight when you think it’s right.
As a teacher, mother, and woman, I jumped at the chance to see this film and then was completely amazed when I also got the chance to participate on a conference call with Malala herself. My son submitted a question to her and she answered.This is a photo of my daughter listening to the call.
My son’s question was ” What can boys do to help?”
She thought that was a great question, she also talked about how the campaign needs all children to stand up and say that it’s not right that so many children worldwide are without education. She invited boys to join and stand with her and stressed that we need to be united about this issue to see change. You can follow the hashtag #withMalala on social media to learn more about the ongoing fight for educational access.
Later in the call it was asked about her father, about how he was so different from other father’s in her home country of Pakistan and what she said gave me chills. It gave me chills because it’s probably the best parenting advice I have ever heard. She said – that people always ask her father what he did differently while raising her and she said that he answers that by saying that it wasn’t what he did do, it’s what he didn’t do. He didn’t clip her wings.
Too many girls have their wings clipped and that is why I am thrilled to help promote this film, and the incredible young woman on this day of celebration.
You can learn more about the film here He Named Me Malala and the Malala Fund here.
I was not paid for this post although I did see the film free of charge.
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