Adventure Women

Strong Is The New Pretty: These Beautiful Photos Show Fierce, Adventurous Young Girls As They Truly Are

"This kind of girl — who has dirt on her shoes and doesn’t want to put a bow in her hair — she’s beautiful, too"

Last month, we found these cool portraits of a woman who dressed her daughter up like strong and powerful women from history to inspire her.

Kate Parker, however, didn’t set out to take strong portraits of her daughter. She was just casually snapping everyday life when she took a step back and realised something extraordinary.

The best images were of her daughters being unashamedly themselves – dirty, being loud, athletic, funny, adventurous and fierce.

“My whole life, I’d believed that girls should be free to be anything they want,” she told Today.com. “Now, all I had to do was pull together images I’d already taken, and tell the story.”

You won’t see any pink ballerina shoes or princess outfits in this series. Instead Kate’s images encourage her daughters to be the girls they are and ignore the stereotypes surrounding them.

“You don’t need to be pretty, perfect or compliant to be loved,” she says.

We love the fact that these images remind us of ourselves growing up – playing barefoot with footballs in the garden, going to swimming practice after school and messing around with our siblings.

Her girls Ella, 9, and Alice, 6, are typically sporty young girls. This series is perfect because it shows how they don’t have to conform to the beauty norms that society puts upon women.

“This kind of girl — who has dirt on her shoes and doesn’t want to put a bow in her hair — she’s beautiful, too,” she says.

But Kate is quick to acknowledge that every child is different – and we also shouldn’t discriminate against young girls who naturally gravitate to pink frilly dresses and like things that are traditionally feminine.

“Whatever your kids are, celebrate that.” We couldn’t agree more.