Best Websites for Tween Girls

We have been traveling the internet looking for the best websites for tweens girls. Here are our latest fab findings that we want to share with our readers.

This is our list in completely random order:

#1 – A Mighty Girl
This site is brand new and we are quite excited to see it join the internet community. The company tag line ‘The world’s largest collection of books and movies for smart, confident, and courageous girls’ says it all. Blog posts review books and movies that are appropriate for the tween girl age group. With new titles and old favorites, your daughter will be sure to find something to her liking and you will know her choice fits her age.

#2 – Best Bones Forever!
Tired of trying to convince your daughter to drink her milk or eat her yogurt? Will then, this site is perfect. Best Bones Forever! is a campaign by the Office on Women’s Health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The ages between 9 and 12 are critical to bone health. Using fun activities and delicious recipes, the campaign encourages girls to exercise and eat right to build strong bones that will last a lifetime. And every year there is a fun dance contest to enter!

#3 – New Moon Girls
Looking for a place where your daughter may roam without being subject to advertising? New Moon Girls is the place to be. Safe and educational, the site is ad-free. Girls may join the online community and share news, poetry, and videos. The print companion, New Moon Girls Magazine is also ad-free and comes packed with information appropriate for girls 8 and up. The every other month publication has a different theme which all focus on expanding a girl’s horizons.

#4 – Zuzee
We have nicknamed this site the ‘Pinterest for Girls’. Girls create an account (and a parent account is automatically created and linked to your daughter’s account) to share photos and create scrapbook pages. Friends who have accounts can share and comment on each others pages. The site is an easy way to share photos without all the worries associated with Facebook. Every tween girl will love this site.

First Period stories from Women Everywhere.

Tween girls can be a little dramatic about their first periods.  Each girl might think she is the only one that has ever experienced this life changing event.  However, we all know, it happens to every girl every where and no book helps understand this more than My Little Red Book by Rachel Kauder Nalebuff.

My Little Red Book is a collection of first period stories gathered from women of all ages the world over.  Some of the women are famous, like Cecily von Ziegesar, the author of The It Girl and Gossip Girls book series, and Erica Jong, author of the best-selling novel Fear of Flying. However, many of the stories are from women just like you and me who had an experience that they vividly remember.

My favorite story is by Aliza Shvarts, a Yale graduate and conceptual artist.  Her first period started while she was in seventh grade and she remembers the class watching a movie about the Ming Period in Chinese history.  She had pain in her lower abdomen and decided it was either appendicitis or her period.  Aliza talks about how she handled her period and the talk she had with her mother when she got home.

Many of the stories are from women who grew up in other countries and it is interesting to read about how menstruation is treated by different cultures.  Once again we realize though that no matter what, each girl has the same first experience of seeing something in her underwear.  Many who contributed stories to the book knew what that stain meant and many did not.

This would be a great book for you and your daughter to read together.  I think it would be fun to take turns reading the stories out loud to each other and then discussing each one.  And then take some time to explore the website.  Rachel provides information on contributing to organizations that provide feminine hygiene supplies to girls in poor countries.  This is one of many reasons that keeps girls home from school as they don’t have supplies each month for their period and therefore don’t leave the house.

Your daughter will definitely gain a greater appreciation for the common female experience of first periods when she is done reading this book.

Before She Gets Her Period, by Jessica Gillooly PhD

Once a year, Dot Girl Products hosts a talk in Seattle for parents of girls and Jessica Gillooly has always been a popular speaker at the talk.  Jessica’s book, Before She Gets Her Period, is a must have for any parent wondering how she/he should prepare for their daughter’s first period – yes, there is a book for dads and even brothers.

The book is based on surveys and interviews that Jessica held with young women and their parents over the years.  For moms, there are exercises on remembering your own first period experience, gathering stories from your female relatives, and putting the stories into a format for a talk with your daughter.  Jessica stresses throughout the book that girls want to hear this information from their parents, even if you think your daughter might not be listening to you, she really is.

My take-away from the book was the realization that women are the same everywhere when it comes to periods.  Except in very rare medical instances, we will all have the ‘first period’ experience.  And your daughter needs to know that BEFORE she starts her period.

You may find Before She Gets Her Period at Amazon.com.  Be sure and read the reviews, they all give this book a positive rating.

Learn How to Talk to Your Kids About Sex

One of the joys of parenting is getting to teach your kids all about sex.  Some may say that is also a big drawback of being parents, but they haven’t heard about Amy Lang of Birds + Bees + Kids.  Amy’s mission in life is to help parents, no matter what your comfort level, learn how to communicate with their kids about sex in the framework of their own values.  Don’t know how to start the conversation? Amy has scripts for many topics.  Wandering when best to start talking to your kids?  Amy breaks down age groups and appropriate topics for each group.  Dot Girl has also partnered with Amy on her class Period Prep for Parents of Girls and we learn something every time!  So if you keep putting off this task, we suggest you check out Amy’s website and get going.  Remember, the kids want to hear it from you.

Eat Around the World

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to take your kids on an around the world adventure sampling food from different cultures?  I found one mom doing this without even leaving her town of Tulsa, Oklahoma.  Sasha Martin of Global Table Adventure is cooking recipes from one country at a time, one week at a time while helping her family and her readers learn about international food like a local.  Her blog includes recipes for the featured meal of the week, techniques on how to cook different food and even an interactive map tracking her alphabetical progress as she cooks across the globe.  And not to worry, Sasha does all her shopping locally, and you can too.  What a fun way to teach your kids about the world and how food, common to us all, is cooked and prepared.  You can even expand on the meal concept and explore the culture further – what are schools like in the country of the week, what do kids do for fun on the weekends, what music is popular and even how girls celebrate their first periods, one more example that we each have so much in common with each other no matter what country we live in.

What movies will win the Oscar?

When we were growing up in the very small town of Gilroy, CA, a frequent Saturday treat was to take in an afternoon movie.  Our parents would drop us off at the Strand Theater downtown where for 25 cents we could see the latest Disney film.  My two favorites to this day were The Love Bug and The Incredible My Limpit with the ever lovable Mr. Don Knotts.

I still like to go to the movies and this year I saw two that are very appropriate for older tweens.  To my delight, both received several Academy Award nominations for the picture and the actors.  The Help is the first movie I would recommend.  I had already read the book by Kathryn Stockett and enjoyed the movie thoroughly.  The story of African American maids in the 1960’s South who come together for a writing project organized by a white college graduate whose own family maid had been forced to leave the family leaves movie goers with a strong sense of the importance of human dignity.  These maids raised the white children, changing their diapers, taking care of them when they were sick, witnessing their first day of school, their first dates and most likely helping the girls with their first period.  Set against the backdrop of the Civil Rights movement, we learn about the individual stories that spurred the movement for equal treatment for African Americans in this country.

And the second movie is The Descendants, a story of a father trying to connect with his two daughters while his wife lays dying from a tragic boat accident.  The youngest daughter is going through typical pre-teen stuff – teasing other girls, making fun of her older sister – while the older daughter tries to forgive her mother for having an affair.  Both girls only want guidance from their dad as they go through the loss of their mother.  And in the end, we learn that what matters is family ties and being there for each other during life’s adversities.  So take the kids to the movies on a Saturday afternoon and let us know your favorites.

For the Savvy Teenage Girl

We are often asked to recommend books for older girls who may have already experienced a couple of years of periods.  We are happy to have found one to pass on to you –  Cycle Savvy by Toni Weschler, MPH.  The book is subtitled The Smart Teen’s Guide to the Mysteries of Her Body and the book delivers with chapters on ‘Your Amazing and Awesome Body’, ‘How to Observe and Chart Your Cycle’, and ‘Now That You Know: From Cycle Savvy to Sex Smart’.  The Appendixes cover additional information that will help teenagers navigate the world of birth control and sexually transmitted infections.  Although these topics may be uncomfortable for parents to broach, they are still very important and necessary for girls to know.  A favorite saying in our household has always been ‘knowledge is protection’ especially where personal health and safety are concerned.  You may read more about the book and the author here.