Originally Posted by Buglady
Feel free 
I credit Girl Guides with showing me that females can do whatever we set our minds to. That's why I've come back around to Guiding as an adult - I had my Pathfinders (13 y-o's) out on the bike paths a couple of weeks ago, building skills and exploring. Their moms came too, which was great because often it's the parents' fears that hold girls back more than their own apprehension.
I've noticed this at the local playground. I have very active and agile boy/girl twins and starting when they were very young, I'd let them climb as high as they wanted on the bars and slides, with me standing close enough to catch them, but not right under them.. I started by showing them how to go from rung to rung and to think about where there feet and hands should go. When they got to the top and cried for daddy to carry them down, I'd say "No, let's climb down together. I'll show you how." And we did. And they felt confident and they never got so high that they couldn't climb down.
Anyway, I've noticed lots of times there'll be moms and grandmoms (and I'm hoping this won't be construed as sexist, it's just my observation that it's always been female caregivers), who'll hover around their little girls and fretting the whole time "Oh, Madison! Don't go so high! You'll fall and get hurt!"
Well, it seems to me that the kid has no intention of falling, and probably hadn't thought about the possibility of falling until the mom projected her fear of falling on the kid, and now it's all the kid can think about.
So, my hat's off to you Buglady for focusing on what girls can do and not what they can't.