Archive for May, 2011

Responding to Bullying – Educators | StopBullying.gov

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This is a helpful list of articles and resources to help adults know how to respond effectively to bullying:

Responding to Bullying – Educators | StopBullying.gov.

Responding to Bullying – Educators | StopBullying.gov

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This is a helpful list of articles and resources to help adults know how to respond effectively to bullying:

Responding to Bullying – Educators | StopBullying.gov.

The Secret of Happy Kids

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One of the best things my mother ever taught me…and one of the things I try to pass on to my daughters everyday…

The Happiest People…

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Free to Be…Not Anymore

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For all of you children of the 1970’s like me who spent hours and hours of your childhood listening to Marlo Thomas’ Free to Be album, check out this amazing article:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marlo-thomas/marlo-thomas-bullying_b_866313.html

“Every boy in this land grows to be his own man,
In this land, every girl grows to be her own woman.”

How to Be Angryfinalcover

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Dear Bully

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One of the greatest things about social media is that once I indicate an interest in a subject, I can almost instantly find myself surrounded by so many other like-minded people who bring to my attention the most interesting stories, articles, and books.  Yesterday, a former co-worker shared with me the Dear Bully website and Facebook groupDear Bully: 70 Authors (more…)

Is Your Best Friend Your Bully?

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I adore author Rachel Simmons…this post from her wesbite is what Friendship & Other Weapons is all about…

http://www.rachelsimmons.com/2011/05/is-your-best-friend-your-bully/

5 Ways to Parent a Perfectionist

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Some days, I wish I were more of a perfectionist.  I see the splotch of paint on my bedroom ceiling and think, “Oh, I should have touched that up…nine years ago.”  I notice the slightly askew picture frames on our family room wall and wish I had bothered to measure before I hammered the nails in to the wall.  Then, I forget about it.

When I watch my seven-year old daughter agonize over handwriting homework and berate herself for missing one question on her
30-problem math test, I thank the gods of “good enough” that perfectionism was never my thing.  And I ask those same
gods for advice on how to help my child overcome her need to be flawless.

If you, too, are the parent of a perfectionist, here are some tips that I have found to be most effective:

1.       Play up personal strengths and play down competitions

In school and at home, my daughter loves to win.  My husband insists that this is a great quality and I know that in many ways, her desire for excellence will serve her well.  Yet I also know that too much of a good thing can be rough, especially for young kids who hold themselves to impossibly high standards.  When my daughter seems singularly focused on being the ‘best” reader in
her class or getting the “highest” score in math, we try to re-focus her energies on achieving personal bests and celebrating

(more…)

5 Dangers of Too Sexy, Too Soon Ads Aimed at Our Girls

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The other day, I was having one of my proud Mama moments, introducing my soon-to-be eight year-old too New Moon Girls.com and talking to her about why I valued the type of self-esteem building content on this type of site over the self-image crushing messages of many other popular girl-focused websites.

For the first five minutes, I had her rapt attention and eager interest!  Then, too suddenly, she saw the part on the site about “Create Your Own Avatar.”  The first thing she wanted to do: skip the hand-drawn Avatar selections available on New Moon Girls and click over to Barbie.com to download one of their images.

Seriously?!

Think in your mind of how Barbies are built…now multiply whatever you have in mind by less clothing, smaller waists, higher heels, and more makeup.  Now, you know what the site has to offer in terms of the avatar choices it presents to young girl users.

The irony.  My best laid plans jilted!

Of course…I know…there is a great learning moment here for my daughter…an impactful conversation to be had…but WOW did it strike me in the face what an uphill battle we Moms face in providing our daughters with quality media content and fortifying them from the ubiquitous messages of thinner, sexier, smaller online, in print, and on TV.

5 Dangers of Too Sexy, Too Soon Ads Aimed at Our Girls.

This is a great article written by child expert, Dr. Michele Borba, on the subject, including helpful advice for parents on how to buck the prolific negative images aimed at young girls.

My Baby Clothes Boutique has partnered with me to provide articles to the parenting community. Check out their site the next time you need adorable baby clothes, photo perfect baby headbands, or even just a cute baby hat for Spring. They have everything you need!

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