Recently added articles from Daughters:

Margo Maine on body image distress

May 01, 2008; Anonymous ... IN THE KNOW One of the most powerful influences on a daughter's body image is what she learns from her parents, says psychologist Margo Maine. Dad's comments about female appearance and Mom's anxiety over her own "imperfect" body and looks can erode a daughter's healthy body image. In ...

Smoothing her stepfamily transitions

May 01, 2008; O'Connor, Ann; Fletcher, Jacquelyn B ... LET'S TALK Mom: Liza, I'm going to go to that company party with Tom tonight, so I won't be able to do the movie with you. Liza: But if s Friday night! We always watch a movie together on Friday nights. Mom: I know, but your stepdad really wants me to go with him ...

Does she think she's a leader?

May 01, 2008; Anonymous ... HER WORLD It's not unusual to see girls in leadership positions these days, but plenty of girls still shy away from leading, missing out on the confidence boost and skill-building that leadership brings. "Exploring Girls' Leadership," an insightful report from the Girl Scout Research ...

Happy with classes?

May 01, 2008; Anonymous ... Girls like reading and writing while boys like math and science, right? Not really. Elementary-aged girls actually like math and science more than language arts, report researchers at the University of Miami in Ohio who surveyed some 2,000 girls from 4th to 8th grade. But while science was the ...

Dating educating

May 01, 2008; Anonymous ... How much do you know about your daughter's dating realities? One in five tweens say their friends are victims of dating violence and nearly half of all 11- to 14-year-olds in relationships know friends who are verbally abused. Tweens and teens surveyed recently by the National Teen Dating Abuse ...

More fun Together!

May 01, 2008; Anonymous ... Wouldn't it be fun to head off to a luxurious spa with your daughter? It's easy-and cheap-when the spa is at your own home! You and your daughter (and how about inviting a bunch of friends?) can whip up yummy creams and potions in your kitchen using ordinary ingredients while taking turns giving ...

Acting out-for fun and confidence

May 01, 2008; Leise, Michelle ... Molly doesn't look like the Greek warrior Achilles. At 10, she's shorter and slighter than many girls in her class. But that didn't stop her from playing Achilles in Homer's The Iliad last spring. On stage, her sweet voice and disposition vanished, and she became ruthless, fearless, and strong ....

EDITOR'S DESK

May 01, 2008; Cordes, Helen ... It's hard to listen, as I did recently, as a parent tells of their daughter's experiences with an eating disorder such as anorexia. You hear the terror and hopelessness as they describe watching their girl waste away day after day, seemingly impervious to their entreaties to eat What's equally ...

Responsible boys

May 01, 2008; Anonymous ... Boys who get sex education at school or through a religious or community program were almost three times more likely to use birth control the first time they had sex and were more likely than girls to delay sex until age 15, according to a study from the Centers for Disease Control and ...

What about tattoos and piercings?

May 01, 2008; Anonymous ... My 12-year-old daughter thinks bellybutton piercing and little tattoos on the shoulder or ankle are cute. I told her when she turns 16, she could get one. Is that a good idea? -A. M. Have your daughter try out a temporary tattoo for a year and see if she really likes it Draw the tattoo ...

Soothing her menstrual cramps

May 01, 2008; Cordes, Helen ... As a girl settles into a predictable menstrual cycle-which typically happens in the year after her first period-one of two patterns emerge. She may have relatively painless periods that don't disrupt her life, which is happily true for most young women. Or she'll be part of the unfortunate ...

Letters to the editor

May 01, 2008; Rome, Alyse ... What can we do to make the world more safe and fair for our daughters? That's the question I posed recently to our DaughtersPlus subscribers in my Update newsletter, noting many parents' concerns ranging from the fear of sexual assault that restricts their daughters' free movement to the lower ...

Ask the expert

May 01, 2008; Criswell, Patti ... Our daughter has begun dating a boy, which is fine, but we would also like to get to know him better. She resents our rules about what they can do together at our house, so she doesn't want to have him here. I don't want to make a big deal of this and push them farther away. What should I do? ...

Forgiving: The healing power of starting over

May 01, 2008; Anonymous ... Forgiveness is easy when our daughters are little. But as our girls get older, we both may find it hard to let go of each others' failings, and our hearts become hardened. In The Unburdened Heart Five Keys to Forgiveness and Freedom (Harper San Francisco, 2000), Mariah Burton Nelson says this ...

When it's her job to break away

May 01, 2008; Sukenik, Susan ... While our daughter grows up, we focus-as we should-on creating a super-strong bond with her, hoping she'll know that she can always turn to us for guidance and support. Yet a crucial marker of our success as parents is our girls' ability to break away from us and move toward independence. Even ...

Help your daughter stand up to trouble talk

May 01, 2008; Ludwig, Trudy ... Gossiping. Lying. Spreading rumors. Sharing others' troubles. Giving hurtful, unsolicited advice. These are common "trouble talk" tactics girls employ in person or online to put down or get back at others. But what happens when your daughter is neither target nor the aggressor, but rather, the ...

Show girls how Dad balances work and family

May 01, 2008; Kelly, Joe ... I was recently on a TV talk show to speak about fathering issues when the self-described Gen-X host called on a teen girl and her dad in the audience. The host asked the girl, "What's your biggest issue with your dad right now?" "When I was little, it seemed like we were best buddies," ...

Sparking everyday science excitement

May 01, 2008; Yoder, Eric ... Science-savvy females have a real advantage in today's world, with typical payoffs of higher salaries and wider opportunities. But particularly in the tween and teen years, many girls get turned off to science. We know we should encourage her science interest, but most of us parents don't feel ...