Why Raising Girls Beyond Fear Requires Financial Literacy
I grew up in a house full of girls, and today when I think about raising girls beyond fear, I realize how much responsibility, faith, and early lessons about womanhood shaped my understanding of empowerment.
Responsibility & Financial Literacy in Raising Girls Beyond Fear
At times there were eight to ten of us under one roof. The group included me, my blood sister, foster sisters, sometimes even cousins and church family staying with us. Over the years, my parents took in more than 30 foster children….and most of them were girls. Eventually, my mom and dad adopted four.
Raising girls beyond fear is not about ignoring responsibility. It’s about replacing fear-based restraint with clarity, education, and systems thinking.
In our home, responsibility wasn’t theoretical. We lived it daily.
I changed diapers. I fed babies. I cooked. I cleaned. I organized. I took children to the park and helped in every way I could. I saw up close what it meant to care for someone who depended on you completely.
My mom had serious kidney issues and was often bedridden, but it was her idea to take in foster children. Looking back, I believe she was trying to instill something in me: every choice results in something, and whatever you bring into your life, you must be prepared to take care of it. You must be a good steward.
Many of the children who came into our home had grown up in broken homes… or from single mothers who either did not have a choice, made difficult choices, or were simply not prepared. As a young teenager helping raise children, I made a very intentional decision: I did not want to have a child early. Part of the reason was that I feared early motherhood. That in my mind meant real financial struggle and inability to explore the world and travel. I understood the weight of responsibility.
So I made a conscious choice. Relationships with boys became secondary because I knew they were not the source of my long-term happiness. I saw happiness in freedom – with no children as part of my daily responsibility. I wanted to be responsible for me, myself, and I.
But here is where I had to deeply examine the larger subliminal messages I was taught.
Fear-Based Messaging and the Old Model of Girlhood
Growing up in a Christian home, much of the focus around girls centered on one theme: don’t get pregnant early. Don’t be out late with boys. Be careful. Wait until you’re married.
We often framed responsibility through fear.
And while I absolutely believe in responsibility, I don’t believe fear should be the foundation of how we prepare girls for adulthood.
What Raising Girls Beyond Fear Actually Means
After my conversation with Gloria Steinem and Leymah Gbowee about their children’s book “Rise Girl Rise: Our Sister-Friend Journey. Together for All.” I began thinking more deeply about this. Their work centers on empowering girls. And that includes: loving them, guiding them, teaching them how to navigate this world with clarity and strength — not fear, not shame and not silence.
If we are serious about raising girls beyond fear, we must teach them not just what to avoid — but how to build.
Girls need to understand their bodies. They need to understand the relationship with themselves first and then with others. They need to understand that emotions are often connected to biology, hormones, and childhood experiences. And that clarity leads to better decisions.
Why Financial Literacy Is Essential in Raising Daughters
But beyond that, they need to understand systems.
They need to understand:
- How money works.
- How investments work.
- How business works.
- How habits compound over time.
- How to put things in order so they can move with intention and purpose.
Responsibility is not just about caregiving. It’s not just about being a good mom.
It’s about stewardship.
If I had learned more about investments and business earlier, I believe I would have navigated certain seasons of my life differently.
I’m not discounting my success. I’m grateful for what I learned. I learned to save in small amounts with a penny jar. That later became the habit of putting part of every paycheck into savings.
I learned to watch progress grow and observe how small steps turn into big achievements. Those lessons mattered.
But I see now that there was a missing piece.
I’ve written before about how storytelling and responsibility shape leadership.
From Avoiding Mistakes to Building Architecture
As a girl, I was taught how to avoid mistakes.
But I wasn’t taught how to build architecture.
In our house full of girls, we learned to help each other. We learned to work together. Camaraderie and lifting each other up were part of our upbringing. But the larger narrative around girlhood in many communities has been caution first, empowerment second.
Empowering Girls Beyond Fear
Maybe it’s time to shift that.
Not to erase responsibility or to erase wisdom.
But to erase fear as the primary teacher.
What if we taught girls grounded responsibility instead of fear-based restraint?
What if we taught stewardship of body, money, emotions, and future?
What if we prepared them not just to avoid crisis — but to build with intention?
That is the question I’m sitting with after my conversation with Gloria Steinem and Leymah Gbowee.
If this conversation resonates with you, I invite you to listen to my full conversation with Gloria Steinem and Leymah Gbowee on The Color Between the Lines podcast.
In that interview, we explore what it truly means to prepare girls for leadership, autonomy, and courage in today’s world — not through fear, but through clarity, love, and intentional guidance.
You can listen to the full episode here:
And I’d love to hear from you:
What were you taught about responsibility?
Was it rooted in fear — or in empowerment?