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I never went to Young Women; by the time I was baptized, I was already married and had a baby on my hip. I kind of missed the boat for memorizing the themes, though I do recall attending a few youth dances as a teen with my neighbors. The first time we had a combined Relief Society & Young Women meeting after I was baptized, I was completely weirded out by the standing and the reciting. Twelve years later, it’s totally norma…nope. Sorry. Still totally weird.

As my two daughters inch towards the transition to Young Women, I’ve started to pay a little more attention to what’s happening down the hallway. There are tremendously good and faithful leaders giving it their all— I’ve seen it in my wards and I’ve seen it in the online community. But as in all things, there must be opposition. Pinterest is a good place to find both— and I went down the YW rabbit hole the other day. It was startling to find an overabundance of cute materials comparing my daughters to princesses, and my sons to future princes. Those princes would surely be expected to rescue their furture brides, blowing right though the smoke screen of Happily-Ever-After only to smack right into the wall of Hello-this-is-Reality!

Since the temple is not actually the center of a Mormon themepark, and since my teenage son is wearing a shirt that says “This is what a feminst looks like” and since my daugher fantasizes about her PhD in STEM fields, selling my family on princess songs as guidposts for a life wasn’t going to go over well. While I may be getting in a few passing digs at a cultural expression that is not entirely without worth, (princesses are nice, and the major animation outlets have been certainly making strides in portraying characters, especially their princesses, as more fully fleshed out characters) I decided to be proactive instead of just griping.

The Young Women theme (the chanting part not withstanding) is not for the faint of heart- these are powerful words with even more powerful ideals behind them— ideals the girls write on their hearts and live with their actions and intellect. Living these ideals would foster many virtues, not the least of which are respect, esteem and strength. These young women are so capable.

WE ARE DAUGHTERS of our Heavenly Father, who loves us, and we love Him. We will stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places” (Mosiah 18:9) as we strive to live the Young Women values, which are:

Faith • Divine Nature • Individual Worth • Knowledge • Choice and Accountability • Good Works • Integrity • and Virtue

We believe as we come to accept and act upon these values, we will be prepared to strengthen home and family, make and keep sacred covenants, receive the ordinances of the temple, and enjoy the blessings of exaltation.

Given this, I cannot imagine sitting around waiting for a prince to take them to the castle is what God has in mind for these daughters. I know it’s not what he had in mind for me… and I hope the path for my daughters is one of service, empowerment and fullness.

So I made some cards. There are two cards for each value, depicting a real woman with a quote to support that value. These Young Women Personal progress cards might be a nice addition to the support already available— at least if you’re like me and think nice isn’t the only pathway to heaven.

Download the PDF here.