REALITY CHECK: New research shows tween and teen girls who regularly view reality TV accept and expect a higher level of drama, aggression, and bullying in their own lives, and measure their worth primarily by their physical appearance. The Good, Bad, and Ugly About Reality TV for Girls As reality TV has become staple entertainment [...]

Q&A with Rachel Simmons, author of the must-read and revised ODD GIRL OUT One of the women I admire most in the fight on bullying is Rachel Simmons. Her work on building leadership with young girls is just profound and her books are magnificent. I met Rachel in New York recently and was even more [...]

Parenting advice on how to raise strong, confident daughters from the inside out based on research by the Girl Scouts of the USA What parent doesn’t want their daughter to be a leader? After all, that top role—be it, debate captain, cheerleader head, newspaper editor, play director, student body president-is deemed the epitome of success. [...]

How to buck the prolific negative, over-sexualized images advertisers are aiming at our daughters. Reality Check: This morning on the TODAY Show I shared how all the “too fast, too negative, too sexy, too soon” merchandising may impact our daughters and why parents should be up in arms. Here are highlights from that segment and [...]

Research shows a disturbing trend: girls are drinking and binging more to reduce stress. Parenting solutions to help young girls Think drinking is only a “boy” problem? Data from the Partnership for a Drug-Free America may make you think again. The survey results on 3287 teens in grades nine through twelve reveal a troubling trend—especially [...]

Making a Difference in the Lives of All Young Girls A special guest post by Michelle Anthony, author of Little Girls Can Be Mean Here is a guest post by Michelle Anthony, author of the wonderful (and MUST read book) Little Girls Can Be Mean: Four Steps to Bully-Proof Girls in the Early Grades. This is [...]

Parenting alert: Websites tailored to young girls that encourage negative self-image, eating disorders and cold-blooded cruelty Research is showing a clear and troubling trend in the mental health of our daughters. Eating disorders, stress, depression, smoking, binge drinking, a peer creulty are steadily rising. Though the internet is certainly not the prime cause, it can [...]

Parenting advice to raise strong, secure girls from the inside out and counter those racy, raunchy “what you have to look like” type images that rob self-esteem These days it’s almost impossible to not read the diet of some pencil-slim celeb. Photos of them all to often leaving some nightclub (drink in hand) wearing some [...]

Steps to reduce female cruelty and relational aggression and raise compassionate, respectful girls Forget “sugar and spice and everything nice.” Research too often shows a different picture with all too many of our daughters. “Vicious, mean, calculating and backstabbing” are more applicable descriptions. Psychologists call such hurtful behavior “Relational Aggression” or RA because the goal [...]

Puberty Onset Four Years Earlier American Academy of Pediatrics: Over a decade ago, Marcia Herman-Giddes, a pediatrician and now professor at the University of North Carolina School of Public Health, noticed many young girls in grades one to five were showing public hair and breast development,” In her words, “It seemed like there were too many, [...]

Do you know what K-2, Four Loko, Spice, Blaze, Red X Dawn, Blackout in can, and Toxing are? If not, it’s time to wise up and talk to your teens.  Here are three dangerous teen trends every parent needs to know. K-2 or Synthetic “Fake” Marijuana Teens smoke it as the new way to get [...]

Parenting advice to raise girls from inside out and stop the outside wrinkle-free, large-breasted, pencil thin craze. Enough! Ask teen girls what is on their birthday wish list these days, and you may get a surprise answer: Botox! Yep, that appointed “youth wonder treatment” by the 40 something set (who rave how Botox temporarily reduces those [...]

How to know if a girl may be a victim of female bullying and the “Mean Girl Scene” “I don’t want to go to school!” “All the girls hate me!” “Can’t we please just go away for awhile!” “I can’t take it anymore!” Sound familiar? They’re the kind of comments young girls utter about the [...]

Toxic parent communication stoppers that are guaranteed to turn teens off – and your better response to keep them talking Let’s face it, talking with an adolescent can be like walking through a minefield. At any moment you could be asking what you thought was a simple, sincere question only to find it triggering an [...]

Read the paper lately or heard any of the troubling stories about our girls? It appears many of the sugar and spice set are no longer nice. Here are just a sample appalling recent headlines to refresh your memory:   • “Millburn High Senior Girls Create Slut List for Incoming Freshman and Welcome Them By Slamming [...]

Michele Borba Note to readers: This is the fourth in a series of blogs about relational aggression-or the new mean girl scene-and what educators and parents can do to curb this  trend. In past blogs I’ve discussed the forms of relational aggression, how boys bully vs girls, and the impact of being targeted, and signs that [...]

Michele Borba Let’s face it, is there any relationship more complicated than between mother and daughter? But understanding that the complex bond is a whole new subject — that is until now. Linda Perlman Gordon (a clinical social worker, family therapist and mediator in private practice) and Susan Morris Shaffer (an educator and gender equity [...]

REALITY CHECK: Sure, the world these days is more X-rated, but parents have always been an excellent counterbalance to sleaze and raunchiness. Stay involved so you can help your daughter read her world with more critical eyes. Remember you really do influence your daughter’s attitudes, values, and self-esteem. Be mindful of your influence so she [...]

Michele Borba I don’t know about you, but I’m suffering from a bad case of only what I can call “Shudder Syndrome”, and it seems to be worsening. It’s a relatively new ailment, but it always materializes when I read those disturbing statistics about young girls. I’m sure you know the ones about anorexia, depression, [...]