New Moon Girls

I found a great on-line magazine. It is called New Moon Girls and is a bi-monthly magazine that is 100% advertising-free. It's topics are the highest-quality content for girls age 8 and up! You won't find diet advice or popularity contests here. Girls can submit art, poetry and articles. There are experts who write columns and answer questions. Topics are covered to empower young women and to help them gain confidence and courage.

This current issue is a good example. A psychotherapist writes about stress.- "A Girls Guide to Chill". What stress is, how to identify it and how to eliminate it is discussed by the expert in a clear and age appropriate manner. Additionally, young contributors add insight and advice to the reader.

Another column is Voice Box- hot topics being the subject. This page is written totally by tweens and teens. This month's subject is Texting and the comments are interesting. Another great column? Be a Shero. You gotta love the message there. This article includes a quiz to match the shero with her accomplishment.

There is a thirteen year old's essay on names and how they impact a girl's life. Her article is great but what an opportunity for budding writers. Teens can contribute to the magazine and actually be published. Could anything better reinforce the importance of literacy and learning? What it takes to construct a sentence, a paragraph and to cover a topic? Why vocabulary and support of a thesis is important. The English teacher in me loves this aspect of New Moon Girls.
Did you know there was a female undercover spy during the Civil War? Read her story in the magazine. How to relate and support friends whose parents are serving in the military is another topic in this issue. How to make a political change and a story about the artist who creates Wonder Woman are other offerings.

New Moon Girls magazine is about helping girls discover and honor their true selves, engage in meaningful pursuits and dialogue, and express their voices in ways that matter.Go to their site and share it with your daughter. It's a fabulous chance to put something safe, creative, positive and entertaining on their computer. Let me know what you think. www.NewMoon.com chrissie

Good Job

Remember when your children were small? Those first faltering steps. "Good job", you exclaimed. Reciting the ABC's. A,B,D,G.......... "You're so smart!". A hearty attempt at kicking a soccer ball. "Good try!" Imagine the reverse. "Little Miss Clumsy aren't you? It's A,B,C,D Einstein." "If you would just practice and apply yourself...."

We would never talk to our young children like that. What happens when we talk to our teenagers? "Why do you hang out with those kids?" "Are you going to wear that?" "Why can't you make better grades. You'll never get into a good college." "Do you know how many calories that has in it?

Whew. Talk about negative. We learn in business to always add something positive, even if the job review is a poor one. Our Mothers' taught that if we didn't have something nice to say, to say nothing. Experience reminds us how words said to us when we were young continue to hurt when we are old. So why do we accentuate the negative with our own teens? Why are we so quick to focus on what they did wrong?

Are we as parents guilty of "stereotyping" our own children? Is the absence of "bad" things our definition of a "good" kid? "He doesn't do drugs. She doesn't drive dangerously. They don't do crazy things. To complete the sentence....like teens do. See the stereotype?

Try turning it around. Buster is into a healthy lifestyle. Gwendolyn is an extremely conscientious driver. They have great friends and always look before they leap into anything.

When our children were small, we helped them achieve goals. We thought of our children as full of potential, capable of growing in positive ways with our loving guidance. And guess what? Now as teens, they still are. chrissie