Recently, a friend told me I have six more summers with my daughter.

Six.

Six summers until we are outfitting my girl’s dorm room. Six summers until the world calls her an adult. Six summers until my girl no longer bounces around our house chomping on sour cream and chive potato chips.

Six.

Really, how can this be? I just delivered the girl once a schedule gave birth last week, and the doctors and nurses told my husband and I we could take our baby girl home from the hospital. We thought it was an insane idea. I mean, hello, we just met the kid, and we didn’t know anything about babies. We put our girl in a very uncomfortable (but extremely adorable) outfit. We fumbled with the dreaded, fifty-pound bucket seat, and then we slowly drove forty-five miles an hour and headed home.

“What are we supposed to do now?” I wondered aloud.

My husband shrugged, and we decided to go to Burger King. I ordered onion rings, and that is the last thing I remember, onion rings.

Now, I only have six more summers with my beauty, the one who is all legs and full of endless stories and high-pitched giggles.

The one who forces me to open my eyes wide and sip each day slowly.

And it was this thought which prompted me to think about Raising Strong Girls: 88 Acts of Independence and Adventure

Our family has loads of unscheduled summer lounging in our future (trust me, we dominate spending time together in a nonstructured way), but I also want to be intentional with my girl. 

My girl and I made this list for you. It is a list promoting independence and adventure. This list longs to hang on your refrigerator. Go ahead, and take down the school lunch menu, and you will have the perfect spot for it (scroll down, and you can print it off because it is also a snazzy printable).

This list contains 88 acts of adventure and independence for girls. It includes perfect ways to spend time together, starting points for conversations, ideas for battling the beast of boredom, and reminders for our girls to play hard. Plus, if your girl is anything like mine, she loves a good checklist, and her little adventurous self can check off items as she goes.

88 Acts of Independence and Adventure

1. Understand how to use a circuit breaker
2. Learn to code
3. Tread water
4. Determine if someone has a fever
5. Identify editable flowers
6. Create a short film
7. Read a book in one day
8. Catch a baseball
9. Make a slingshot
10. Rock climb
11. Design a website
12. Identify local trees
13. Iron
14. Create an outdoor fort
15. Check the oil in a car
16. Throw a Frisbee
17. Memorize Scripture
18. Throw a baseball
19. Sew a button
20. Make an obstacle course
21. Play Jacks
22. Paddleboard
23. Understand how-to consume information online (in a healthy way!)
24. Design a kite that really flies
25. Make jam
26. Mow the grass
27. Learn to use a hammer
28. Catch a frog
29. Complete a 1000 piece puzzle
30. Climb a tree
31. Run a 5K
32. Drive a boat
33. Make bread
34. Volunteer
35. Bake a cake from scratch
36. Grow vegetables
37. Learn two jump rope songs
38. Build a zipline
39. Play football
40. Come up with a catchphrase
41. Build a fire
42. Learn how-to mind map
43. Kayak
44. Say no
45. Learn a new language
46. Chop wood
47. Sew curtains
48. Make a candle
49. Design and build a mini-waterpark
50. Put a chain on a bicycle
51. Pitch a tent
52. Paint a room
53. Create a budget
54. Reupholster a chair
55. Study bees
56. Use a rope swing to jump into a lake
57. Write a poem
58. Read a map
59. Handwrite a two-page letter
60. Learn basic substitutions for cooking
61. Learn how to treat minor burns
62. Start a rock collection
63. Invent something new
64. Take a class
65. Do a handstand in the lake
66. Learn to ride a horse
67. Stand up for a friend
68. Play a musical instrument
69. Treat a minor cut
70. Learn to skateboard
71. Identify poison ivy
72. Hang a swing in a tree
73. Put a chain back on a bike
74. Read a book over 100 years old
75. Inflate a flat bike tire
76. Cook over a campfire
77. Speak in front of a group
78. Ride a bike no-handed
79. Write a book
80. Jump a car
81. Play hopscotch
82. Design a video game
83. Attend a rally
84. Ride a skateboard
85. Hike a mountain
86. Read the Bible
87. Try out for something
88. Ask for help when you need it

And here’s the fun news! If you want a copy of our list, it’s yours (Strong Girls Can: 88 Acts of Independence and Adventure). Should you want to create your own Raising Strong Girls list instead, do it!

Keep me posted on strong girl happenings in your house!

Share photos of what your strong girl is up to (or have her share them) in the Private Parenting Facebook Community via social media or using the contact form here. Make sure to tag Amy or Lee Felix and use the hashtag #RaisingGodlyGirls

Here’s to summer, strong moms, and strong girls!

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Make sure to hop over and check out Amy’s latest post 11 Things Your Daughter Needs to Hear You Say

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Amy L. Sullivan. Determined dreamer. Fan of early mornings, dangly earrings, and the underdog. Author of Gutsy Girls: Strong Christian Women Who Impacted the World. Find her at AmyLSullivan.com.

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