Girl Talk: Honest Chat with Your Daughters

Let's face it, raising girls today is not easy. 

Combine it with puberty, technology and peer pressure and we can quickly loose our mind!

Recently launched by author  and tween expert, Sarah Burningham, Girl to Girl: Honest Talk About GROWING UP and Your CHANGING BODY is a guide to help parents and girls understand and open lines of communication to what is going on in their lives!

Being a girl isn't always easy, and growing up is far from a walk in the park. This time of transition is particularly confusing without a confidante to help.

Sarah O'Leary Burningham is like a real-life big sister here to coach preteens through all of life's big moments, from first bras to first periods.

Filled with letters and testimonials from real girls—as well as confidence-boosting advice and myth-busting sidebars—this fun, accessible, and highly visual book is a must-have for every girl navigating her way through the preteen years.

Order on Amazon.

What's Your Brave? Lessons from Teen Girls on Everyday Courage

The What’s Your Brave?™ project shares the insights and acts of everyday courage of teenage girls from across the United States and eventually the world. What makes us different is that we are going to the real adolescent experts — that is, the teenage girls themselves. We are asking teen girls one “simple” question, “What’s Your Brave?”. In sharing their answers and the reoccurring themes we observe, our hope is to inspire parents to support their own daughters in finding their “brave” — the courage to be themselves even during their tumultuous adolescent years.

Learn more at www.whatsyourbrave.com. 

Back to School: After School and Your Daughter

Yes, schools are opening throughout our country and another academic year with the normal peer pressure and stress of being a teenager.

What are you doing after school? Many girls will be hitting a transitional point in their lives in a few weeks. Some will attend new schools, some will be away from home for the first time and others could be leaving their summer loves….

Although women have made gains in education and employment in the equal rights war, they’re still losing the self-esteem war. Girls’ self-esteem peaks when they are about 9 years old, and then takes a nosedive. Although the media, peers, and pop culture influence children, parents still hold more sway than they think when it comes to having an impact on a daughter’s developing self-esteem.

Girls are faced with an onslaught of influences daily- most of them not the ones we’d like. In fact, a national survey of girls’ use of social media released by Girl Scouts of the USA (Who’s That Girl: Self Image in the 21st Century, 2010) finds that girls with low self-esteem are more likely to be susceptible to negative experiences on social networking sites than are girls with high self-esteem.

As parents and mentors, we want to help our daughters develop a strong sense of self, learn about the benefits of a balanced diet and physical activity, develop healthy relationships, promote confidence and well-being among While having fun.

Wondering how to enhance your daughter’s school year? The Girl Scouts’ flourishing new leadership program Journeys is at the core of the nearly 100-year-old organization’s transformation and a key benefit of this latest offering is building a strong sense of self. Building self-esteem does not happen overnight, but research shows that one way to accomplish this is through the development of leadership skills and competencies.

For more information go to www.girscouts.org!

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Teen Self-Esteem: Dove Movement Campaign 2010

As the Dove Movement for Self-Esteem unfolds, there is a powerful question that is being passed around and one that most people have a variety of answers for. Whether you are 18 or 58 or even 78, the answers contain lessons from experience.

What do you wish you had known at 13 years old?

Here are some of the responses from the Dove Movement website as well as from Twitter:

•Play more, worry less!
•My father really was smart but at 13 I knew it all.
•Enjoy being young/don't wish to be older yet.
•That the abuse I was suffering had nothing to do with how bad I was but how bad the perpetrator was.
•That being myself was the best way to be 'cool!'

These are only a few of the fantastic responses the Dove Movement has received. For those in South Florida, one of the issues that is often heard, is about using sun-screen more generously. In your teen years many are more concerned about their tan (self-image) than the damage the sun is doing to your skin. In later years, as the skin starts to wrinkle, it can be a lesson we wish we had known (or listened to our parents).

The Dove Movement for Self-Esteem is being sponsored by the Boys and Girls Club, Girls Inc. and Girls Scouts, Dove is marching out a campaign to help teen girls have a brighter future and step into their own skin by believing in themselves.

Watch video.

Sue Scheff: Girls Inc - Empowering our daughters today

Girls Incorporated is a national nonprofit youth organization dedicated to inspiring all girls to be strong, smart, and bold. With roots dating to 1864, Girls Inc has provided vital educational programs to millions of American girls, particularly those in high-risk, underserved areas. Today, innovative programs help girls confront subtle societal messages about their value and potential, and prepare them to lead successful, independent, and fulfilling lives.

Programs Girls Inc develops research-based informal education programs that encourage girls to take risks and master physical, intellectual and emotional challenges. Major programs address math and science education, pregnancy and drug abuse prevention, media literacy, economic literacy, adolescent health, violence prevention, and sports participation.

Read and learn more!  Get involved and make a difference!

Sue Scheff: Self Esteem and Girls - It is as easy as buying a box of cookies!

Have you received the knock on your door? Have gone to do your grocery shopping and meet by moms and daughters selling Girl Scout cookies? What about your local Walmart? Almost everywhere the average person goes today until February 9th, you won't be able to miss the opportunity to not only buy these cookies we love (and we all have our favorites), you will have a chance to build a child's self- esteem.

It is not so much about the delicious cookies you will receive for your $3.50 a box, it is about making a young girl feel good. It is about contributing to an organization that is constantly working on teaching integrity, respect, responsibility and much more to young girls today.

South Florida Girl Scouts is one of many chapters that participate in many community service hours. They offer many fantastic activities and opportunities to meet new people and give back to your community. Watch video below.

Are you interested in joining, volunteering or finding out more about the Girl Scouts?

Discover - Connect - Take Action - Join now.... Click here for more information.

The Girl Scout Promise:

The Girl Scout Promise is shared by every member of Girl Scouting. The Girl Scout Promise is the way Girl Scouts agree to act every day toward one another and other people.

On my honor, I will try:
To serve God* and my country,
To help people at all times,
And to live by the Girl Scout Law.

* The word "God" can be interpreted in a number of ways, depending on one's spiritual beliefs. When reciting the Girl Scout Promise, it is okay to replace the word "God" with whatever word your spiritual beliefs dictate.

What is your favorite Girl Scout cookie? Please share with everyone in comments on Examiner.

My vote is for Thin Mints and Samoas.

Sue Scheff: The Seven Secrets of Parenting Girls

By Dr. Janet Rose Wojtalk

Do you want the parenting secrets that have been used to raise the most successful women in history?

After years of researching the most successful women, Dr. Janet Rose has for the first time released this powerful guide for parents. Finally a solution to the question "What can we do to make sure we raise a happy, independent, successful daughter?"

Learn real strategies you can use today based on Dr. Janet Rose's award winning doctoral research into what some savvy parents "get" that results in happy, confident and successful daughters.

For more information visit: http://parentinggirls.com/7secrets_01.htm