Hi, I’m Susan, and I’m so glad you found me!

Being the Woman I Needed as a Little Girl

BECAUSE OUR GIRLS DESERVE THE BEST BEGINNING

I’ve been in public education for over 33 years, and in those years, I have had the privilege of teaching little girls not only from purely an academic perspective, but to teach them from the perspective of having been a little girl myself.

I personally don’t have fond memories of elementary school, middle or high school, because I struggled academically in school, and there were times of feeling like I didn’t fit in. I only had a few teachers that happened to be male that were even remotely interested in me as a student, or how I felt. One was a middle school music teacher who cultivated my love of singing and was always encouraging me to sing publically at school events and concerts, and the other was a high school math teacher who realized math was hard for me, and he would show me every trick he could to help with my math issues. How sad, that as a little girl, I could not connect with the female teachers, nor were they there for me when I needed one.

I grew up when children were not asked how they felt, but were told what to feel and how to think. Therefore, I was in trouble a lot because I questioned everything whether I was in school, or in church. I grew up in a time when little girls were not listened to, or able to have an opinion because, “what did we know”. Having an opinion, is the ability to express how you feel, if you are being told, “what do you know?” , then you are setting up a little girl to not trust herself or what she feels. When this occurs you begin to take on that idea of “what do I know?”. This goes against what you are feeling, and you begin to doubt yourself.

Hi, I’m Susan, and I’m so glad you found me!

Being the Woman I Needed as a Little Girl

BECAUSE OUR GIRLS DESERVE THE BEST BEGINNING

Sometimes, we need to recognize and acknowledge that there is a deep wisdom that can come from a little girl.

It can be simple, pure and honest because her world is not tainted by what could and could not happen.
She also doesn’t have the boundaries and “garbage” from the world that has tainted her.
She will act on pure raw feelings and emotions, and that is how she truly feels.

Her intuition is telling her one thing, and the world is telling her another.
It’s her intuition that gets lost because of the outside influence of the world
and she forgets who she is, and how to trust herself.

Little girls need to be heard, listened to, validated, honored, cherished and loved

When I made the decision to become a mother, I knew that I was going to raise my girls to have an opinion, to tell me how they felt, and to encourage them to trust their feelings, and above all to tell them to always speak their truth. I shared with them those times in my life growing up of when I didn’t listen to my intuition, and I didn’t use my voice. I have done the same with little girls that I have been blessed to teach through the years as well. But through my own childhood, being a teacher and being a mother I thought about how wonderful it would be to have a class where you can actually teach little girls how to recognize, and develop their intuition and to trust! They have this knowledge, but need to be encouraged to trust it, and use it. WOW, I would have loved to have had a class like this when I was a little girl!

I am so grateful that through my adult life I have had many wonderful women in my life that I have learned a great deal from, through their spiritual teachings, words of wisdom, and their outlook on the world. Through my own life experiences, I feel as though I can share so much of the wisdom and teachings that I have learned. I have tried to do this on a daily basis with the little girls in my classroom through the years, as well as having been blessed to have had my own two precious little girls that I have taught through the years and that I have learned from as well. My two biggest teachers in my life have been my own beautiful daughters, Landen and Gracen.

The idea came to me in 2017 that I could create a class for little girls and teach them about intuition, self-love, trust, friendship, confidence and feelings.

So… Girls Empowering Minds and Spirits or G.E.M.S was created! I decided I would be the woman in a classroom setting who would listen, validate, love and encourage. I focused on these six traits because these will be the traits she will use throughout her life in everything she does. Each trait is connecting to a gemstone, Intuition/Amethyst, Self Love/Rose Quartz, Trust/Amazonite, Friendship/Carnelian, Confidence/Citrine, and Feelings/Lapis Lazuli. Each gemstone represents the connection to the specific trait. The gemstones are a tangible reminder of the lessons that have been taught over the six weeks, and to remember to use what they have learned.

The class lasted for 6 weeks, and they were an hour and a half long meeting one day a week after school in my classroom. Each girl was given her own bag of gemstones and I kept the gemstones in a box for the girls, in my classroom to use each week. I kept the gemstones with me because I didn’t want them to accidently loose a gemstone from their bag. They were all given their bag of gemstones on the last day of class to take home. Within the bag there is a small card with the trait and the connecting gemstone, in addition to their daily affirmation. We would begin and end the class reciting together the G.E.M.S Daily Affirmation.

The girls were encouraged to say the daily affirmation at home and to practice what they have learned each week in their G.E.M.S. class in school, at home, and with their friends.

Each week’s lesson contained a story connecting to the trait we would be talking about, along with opportunities to write and express themselves individually, with a partner and working in a group to share, play games, and to learn from each other in a safe environment.

G.E.M.S. Daily Affirmation

I listen to my heart.
I trust what I feel.
I know myself.
I love myself.
This makes me powerful,
because I am a GEMS girl!

These classes were designed with a new trait being introduced each week, and a built-in review for the trait learned the week before, with time to practice with each other, and time for discussion and sharing. The girls are asked how they included the traits and skills encouraged in class in their everyday life at school, at home, and playing with friends, and what they outcomes were.

The one thing I noticed was how often their hearts had been hurt by friends, and how they really needed to talk about how they were feeling. Sharing their feelings with each other was powerful for each of them! The girls shared their feelings so there was a sense of connection and understanding with each other.

It is my belief that every little girl who is taught through these classes about her intuition and the five others traits that are discussed in the classes will create a ripple effect that will be carried with them out in to the world as they grow, and that they will share their knowledge and encourage other girls to do the same. My hope is from this experience, there can only be more honesty, trust and compassion flowing out in to the world.

Susan Blust

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