If you are raising girls today, you already know that we are not just parenting. We are co-directing in a world fueled by glitter, choreography, empowerment anthems, and recess discussions of pop culture. Our girls live in a new world we never had, one that arrives instantly, repeatedly, and usually with dance choreo to follow.

We grew up in the era where if you missed something on TV that was it. Now we are in a world where pop idols go to battle demons in gorgeous rhinestones.  Ariana Grande floats across Oz, rewriting the definition of girly power with a single high note. And inside all of that, we are trying to raise grounded, confident, kind humans. 

For many of us Taylor Swift is practically another parent in the house. 

Between friendship, heartbreak, boundaries, and confidence, our girls memorize her lyrics without trying. Empowerment is suddenly instantly available and catchy.

In my house, both of my girls find their power through music and performance, just in totally different ways. Charli belts Taylor Swift choruses like they’re battle cries, while Andi absorbs music like it’s a color she can wear, turning her playlists into outfits, moods, and whole aesthetic worlds. Even if your daughter isn’t singing Bejeweled or Life of a Showgirl, she probably has her own anthem, because girls today speak in a confidence shaped by the stories and sounds around them. Empowerment comes preloaded now, catchy, constant, and sometimes louder than our parenting ever was.

And performance shows up differently in each of them. Charli practically lives in rehearsals and classes, chasing the spotlight in the most literal way. Andi performs through creativity, her outfits, her pink-tinted world-building, her instinct to turn regular moments into scenes. It doesn’t matter what your daughter gravitates toward; today’s girls don’t wait for permission to shine. Their spark is already lit; they are just waiting for it to go off like a Katy Perry Firework. 

This year, Andi stepped into competitive cheer alongside her other activities, and it introduced her to a kind of empowerment we never had: teamwork, precision, athleticism, and unapologetic sparkle. It’s K-pop energy in real life, just with bigger bows and tumbling passes.

This summer, the world was introduced to the K-pop phenomenon. 

Their powerful walk, the hair flip that says, “I’m ready,” and the confidence that radiates from girls who rehearse 10,000 times and still smile. Presence is a lesson that they take home from these girls. Girls today learn to take up space long before the world tells them not to.

Add in Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo’s Wicked era, the sisterhood, the magic, the unapologetic sparkle, and suddenly our girls have role models who weren’t asking to be powerful; they are assuming they already are.

They are definitely not alone. 

Beyoncé is teaching the world about reinvention. Olivia Rodrigo is teaching girls not to be ashamed to have anger. Sabrina Carpenter is teaching them that tiny girls can have very large energy. 

This is where we as parents come in. 

We tell our girls that even the biggest idols aren’t perfect and they too fail. That girl power isn’t about being the best, it is about being whole and being the best version of you.  Do you know how many times I pull song lyrics into a discussion with my girls. We talk about Ariana and Cynthia’s friendship off-screen. We show them that strength can look a hundred different ways. It can be loud, soft, sparkly, sweaty, precise, messy, brave, emotional, or silly.

Whether your daughter is like Charli, running life at full speed, always performing, always moving, or more like Andi who is imaginative, expressive, designing the world instead of racing through it, this generation of girls we are raising is telling us something loud and clear. They are not waiting for permission to be powerful.

Girls today are like Sara Bareilles.

They are writing their own anthems. They are choreographing their own battles, not just fighting them. They are choosing both toughness and glitter. The honor of our job is to stand out of the way, cheering, holding water bottles, rewinding the song, smoothing the costume, and helping them navigate the wild, wonderful, crazy cultural storm they are growing up in.

None of us were raised with this much girl power. But we get to raise the girls who are redefining it.