Beyonce’s Sesame Street Walkers: Bootylicious Babes or Pimped Out Preemies?

Welcome to “Girls Gone Wild,” Little Tykes Addition. These ads featuring Dereon Girls clothes might provide a momentary laugh if they came out of an old “dress-up box” or if the girls were doing a mock “Pussy Cat Dolls presents Girlicious” audition. But the idea that they’re aimed for public view is alarming.
Still raw from [...]

Eating Disorders Revealed: Interview with High Schoolers Who Used Their Challenges to Inspire Others

All teens deal with struggles in their lives. It takes a powerful teen to admit she has a problem, work through her challenges, and use what she’s learned to help others. This article is the result of an interview with Alex Shabo, a teen who is recovering from an eating disorder and helping others [...]

Imagination Playground: The Vital Role of Play in a Child’s Life

Play is an important part of a child’s development. We all have seen the traditional “monkey bars,” swings, and jungle gyms. But when architect, David Rockwell, came up with a concept for a playground—he thought outside of the box.
According to yesterday’s New York Times:
Instead of monkey bars and jungle gyms, there are blue and white [...]

YouTube Reaction: 10 Ways to Help Teens Deal with Peer Pressure

After an extremely disturbing YouTube video surfaced showing 8 teens from Florida beating of another teen, parents are confused and horrified. The victim was treated for a concussion and numerous bruises and the attackers were arrested.

Eight teens all working together to beat up another teen? Was this a result of negative peer pressure gone to [...]

Randy Pausch: On Loving the Teachers who Don’t Give Up on Us (and Are you Ruining My Child’s Self Esteem?)

“Experience is what you get is when you didn’t get what you want…We send our kids out to play football or soccer or swimming or whatever it is… for indirect learning..we don’t actually want them to learn football… We send our kids out to learn much more important things; teamwork, sportsmanship, perseverance, etc. etc.” [...]

Clique it or Ticket to Loserville? 7 Tips on Talking to Children and Teens about Cliques

Parents of teens have asked me recently about parenting resources available to help moms and dads talk to their children about cliques. We know of popular books like “Queen Bees and Wannabees” or “The Bully, the Bullied and the Bystander” and recent movies like “Mean Girls” which shows that cliques can certainly become a [...]

Powerful Role Models: Seven Ways to Make a Positive Impact on Children

They want to be just like you. Are you being a positive role model?
A role model is someone whose behavior is imitated by others. Of course, there are good role models and bad role models. There is even the counterintuitive anti-role model who behaves so badly that s/he serves as a good example of [...]

Teaching Children How to Manage Money: 5 Tips for Savvy Parents

Five Ways to Teach Your Children about the Value of Money
By Dr. Robyn J.A. Silverman
(Teach your children self reliance and responsibility!)
When I was about 5 years old, my father took me down to the corner store so that he could buy a newspaper for himself and a pack of gum for me. [...]

“Too” Tall or “Too” Short; Feeling Different Can Be Tough for Children and Adults

 
It can be challenging for children to feel like they can fit in, feel confident, and thrive when they feel so different from others. This morning’s (3-26) New York Times featured “The Life of a Tall Girl,” an essay by the exquisite Becky Thomas. This essay talked about the tough mental challenge to [...]

Are your Children Showing Self Reliance at School and Home?

Because it’s Self Reliance month for Powerful Words, it’s important that we provide children with opportunities to show self reliance at school, at home, and out in the community. Perhaps your children have been relying on you (or their teachers?) to do some things that they can do on their own. What are [...]