Posts tagged parenting

Seeing Isn’t Believing: Helping Young Girls De-Bunk Media Myths

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http://youtu.be/iYhCn0jf46U

Check out this great video for sharing with daughters and talking about beauty pressures.  As adults, we know that seeing isn’t necessarily believing, but it’s amazing (read: sad) how much kids buy in to what they see in the media.

 

 

The Breathtaking Cruelty of Formspring: What Every Parent Should Know

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Read below for bestselling author Rachel Simmons’ (Odd Girl Out, Odd Girl Speaks Out, The Curse of the Good Girl) perspective and very helpful suggestions for talking to young girls about the “breathtakingly cruel” website Formspring:

 

http://www.rachelsimmons.com/2010/03/what-every-parent-should-know-about-formspring-the-new-cyberscourge-for-teens/

Formspring: Enabling the Cruelest Form of Bullying with the Greatest of Ease.

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Having just read the post below, I am still speechless…which is fine because this Mama said it all so well:

http://www.rachelsimmons.com/2011/06/guest-blog-a-mothers-battle-to-get-her-daughter-off-formspring/

I adore her apt description: Formspring is the present-day version of the bathroom stall on steroids, enabling the cruelest form of bullying with the greatest of ease.

Are you aware of the website Formspring?  As the mother of 8 and 5-year old girls, I was not…yet…but am so glad to know about it early so that I can do a little early intervention and hopefully prevention.

You know, it’s crazy–I feel like me, and so many other parents and professionals out there, are putting their hearts and souls into helping girls cope with bullying–then a site like this comes along and makes money hand over first with no purpose or objective other than to wreck young girls.   Where is the conscience?

 

 

 

Beauty Pressure: Innoculating our Kids

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ei6JvK0W60I&w=425&h=349]

The article I posted below reminded me of this film clip from the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty. I suggest this clip to parents and professionals in my Friendship & Other Weapons curriculum, as a way of teaching young girls about the impact of media messages–sort of an innoculation measure, with the idea that when girls are aware of the media’s intentions, they are better able to resist its negative influences.

I would love to hear your reactions to the video and feedback on how you talk with your kids about media messages and beauty pressure.

Teaching Our Daughters to Love Their Bodies

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I love this post about Teaching Our Daughters to Love Their Bodies, by Andrea Owen.  “I know I can’t shelter my daughter from seeing and sometimes believing that she needs to be prettier, thinner, firmer, sexier, smoother, younger-looking, etc. But, I can sure as hell tell her from my own mouth that her body is the most perfect thing created, just as it is. That it was meant for kicking ass…”

 

http://thefeministbreeder.com/guest-post-teaching-our-daughters-to-love-their-bodies/

 

This is a key lesson in the Friendship & Other Weapons curriculum as well; part of fortifying girls against the pressures of bullying has to do with teaching them to be proud of who they are and the bodies they live in, rather than becoming overwhelmed and swept away by media messages to the contrary.

Assertive Anger Expression for Kids: Arguing vs. Disagreeing

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Do your children bicker? Mine sure do. In fact, asking if they bicker is like asking if they breathe; it comes so naturally to them that some days it seems like a life-sustaining function. I try to remind myself that sibling rivalry, while not actually critical to survival, is at least a great teacher for kids, as they practice life skills like assertiveness, negotiation, and forgiveness.

Though I put great effort into not being a constant family mediator, one of the most effective lessons I was ever able to pass on mid-conflict was teaching my daughters the difference between disagreeing and arguing.

For the full text of this article, please visit:

http://www.parentsareimportant.com/2011/06/assertive-anger-expression-for-kids.html

For more information on skills and strategies to help children express anger in assertive, relationship-enhancing ways, please check out my latest book, to be released this July:  How to Be Angry: An Assertive Anger Expression Group Guide for Kids and Teens

ParentCentral.Net: A Great Online Resource for Parents

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In 1998, professionals from KidsPeace National Centers founded TeenCentral.net, a unique website designed as a safe place for teens to share their personal stories and receive feedback from peers as well as professional counselors. In the last decade, this award-winning site has responded to hundreds of thousands of stories and provided timely guidance to teens via its anonymous, free platform.

In response to increasing feedback from adults who have shared their parenting challenges and struggles, the founders of TeenCentral recently created ParentCentral.net. ParentCentral is designed to allow parents and caregivers the opportunity to post (more…)

Great Advice from Sesame Workshop About How to Handle Kids’ Questions About Scary News Stories

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Sesame Street will never do you wrong. Here is a great video clip from Dr. Rosemarie Truglio, VP of Research and Education at Sesame Workshop, with wise words about the importance of parents giving kids coping skills for handling scary news and events.

http://www-tc.pbs.org/video/media/swf/PBSPlayer.swf

Watch the full episode. See more The Parent Show.

Thanks, Sarah, for sharing!

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…)

Monster High Brings the Power of Kindness to Girls

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I now hate to admit it, but whenever my daughters and I approached the Monster High Dolls display at our local Target, I intentionally called their attention to something else in the aisle, trying to distract them from the dolls.  My rationale: upon quick glance, I assumed they were the next generation of Bratz dolls, the hypersexualized barbie-esque doll that I promised never to buy.

Imagine my surprise when I came upon this article which corrected my off-the-mark assumption.  According to Mattel rep,  Lori Patel, “The Monster High brand uses the monster metaphor to show girls that it is ok to be different and that our unique differences should be celebrated.””

(more…)

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