Smart Girls Fun

The Magic of Chemistry

2009-03-03T16:20:00.000-08:00

It is almost magical that a Mr. & Mrs. Science exist. They are also known as Dr's. Phil and Tina Bailey, chemistry professors* at California Polytechnic University in San Luis Obispo, California. The university that is also known as Cal Poly. Cal Poly's educational philosophy is "Learn by Doing" and Professors Phil and Tina Bailey certainly know how to get kids interested in science and math.

They have been perfecting their Chemistry Magic Show for almost 40 years. Every year, local fourth grade classes are invited to a live show at the university.

If you are curious about the show..... let's just say that things explode, catch fire, change color, disappear, reappear, crunch, munch, stink, expand, shrink, foam and goop. There is a taste test, flowers that shatter and some very unusual balloon manipulation. The demonstrations help kids understand air pressure, the three states of matter, acids and bases, chemical reactions and more. Mr. & Mrs. Science make chemistry exciting and full of fun. Smiles are mandatory.

With a grant from the Cotchett Foundation, a phenomenal 50 minute video was produced of the show. A free copy is available upon request. Please email Dr. Tina Bailey: cbailey@calpoly.edu for your copy.

The DVD was designed for third, fourth and fifth graders. But really any elementary school aged child would enjoy the demonstrations. The video also has some Cal Poly science major students explaining why they chose their field of study.

The Chemistry Magic Show video would be great for teachers and parents who want to encourage a love for science and math for their kids. Our country is in dire need of scientists. Getting kids interested in science at a young age is key to increasing the chance that they will pursue careers in science and engineering.

There is a downloadable Magic Show Handbook which is full of fun photos of kids enjoying the science activities. It includes explanations for all the demonstrations, plus some fun experiments that can be done at home with parental supervision using common household items. Also included are some science fair project ideas. Check it out :)

I want to personally thank Dr's. Bailey for showing kids that science can be fun and easy to understand. For showing kids they can ask questions and find answers. For having such fun and passion with science. And for all of this, they earn a Smart Girl Fun Award.

**they get extra credit for having boys and girls participate equally in the magic show**

* Phil Bailey, PhD is Cal Poly's College of Mathematics Dean and Tina Bailey, PhD is the Chair of the Chemistry and Biochemistry Department.

Garden-Based Learning

2009-02-04T13:22:00.000-08:00

Last time I blogged about donating a barn owl box to one of the local elementary schools for their new school garden. I have since done some research into garden-based learning for elementary schools. It is a growing trend nationally. A good summary on Wikipedia in part states:

Benefits of garden-based learning among children and youth

Landscape designers, teachers, and others consider children’s gardens to be one of the most notable positive trends in the nation today. These environments can foster science literacy and social skills, while enhancing an awareness of the link between plants in the landscape and our clothing, food, shelter, and well-being. Gardening projects provide children and youth with the carefree exploration of the natural world that occurs rarely in today's era of indoor living; it can also give young people the chance to develop a wide range of academic and social skills. Noted benefits of garden-based learning programs among youth include increased nutrition awareness, environmental awareness, higher learning achievements, and increased life skills

Increased nutrition awareness Research indicates that youth who participate in garden-based learning programs have increased their consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables, and gained new enthusiasm for fresh, nutritious vegetables they grew. Teachers also regarded the garden to be very effective at enhancing academic performance, physical activity, language arts, and healthful eating habits.

Increased environmental awareness Research highlights that high school students gain more positive attitudes about environmental issues after participating in a school garden program. Gardening has also been shown to increase scores on environmental attitude surveys of elementary school children.

Higher Learning Achievements Studies indicate that students that participated in school gardening activities scored significantly higher on science achievement tests compared to students that did not experience any garden-based learning activities. Other research has indicated that weekly use of gardening activities and hands-on classroom activities help improve science achievement test scores.

Increased Life Skills Research has highlighted the increased life skills attributed to children's garden programs: enhances moral education, increases appreciation for nature, increases responsibility, develops patience, increases in relationship skill, increases self-esteem, helps students develop a sense of ownership and responsibility, and helps foster relationships with family members.

That all sounds good, especially considering today's kids are increasingly disconnected from the natural world. Kids can participate at all levels: planning the garden, getting donated materials, garden construction, garden maintenance, pest control strategies and harvesting of food and flowers. Kids can learn about sustainable development, nutrition, garden critters, weather and so much more. Schools can even have older kids can participate in market gardening, which could teach them basic business, marketing and money management skills. A simple school farmer's market once a week would be fun. School gardens can be a source of pumpkins for Halloween, flowers for Valentine's day and Mother's day. The produce can be served in the cafeteria. Kids can learn how to make healthy and nutritious snacks. One lucky school had guest chefs show the students how to make fresh pizza dough and sauce and use fresh veggies for toppings!

Our local elementary school was fortunate enough to have a few master gardeners volunteer their time. Of course, parents and community members need to donate time and materials for garden construction. Our school garden is still under construction, but all of the grades have had a chance to plant their section of the garden. The children could also bring in a smooth, fist-sized rocks to school to paint and place in the garden. This garden has different sections including: a bird/wildlife garden, pumpkin and native american garden, compost area, butterfly garden, weather station, annual flower bed, native garden and green house. One of the teacher's has a garden blog on the school website. The school sends out Garden News (including a wish list for supplies and garden work dates) with the monthly school newsletter.

There are several resources for schools/volunteers on how to develop your school garden. Start by looking at the resource list at the end of the Wikipedia article. If you are in northern California, UC Davis has a Children's Garden Program at their Student Farm. They offer workshops for creating and sustaining school gardens. There is also the California School Garden Network and they have an excellent resource section on their website. You can download CSGN's Gardens for Learning - Creating and Sustaining Your School Garden guidebook.

If your school does not have, or have plans for, a school garden, think about taking that first step and inquire about the possibility of starting a garden for your school.

GOOD LUCK TO ALL THE LITTLE GREEN THUMBS OUT THERE!!

Barn Owl Valentine Beauties

2009-01-15T13:06:00.000-08:00

Barn owls are found throughout the United States and in many other parts of the world. They look quite different from other owls because they have a heart-shaped face and no ear tufts. They usually have some freckles and have soft white and brown coloring. They also have quite a screech!

Our local elementary school is building a school garden. They will be installing a barn owl box to attract their own resident owls. Barn owls are great for rodent control. They eat lots of mice and gophers. Other than installing the nesting box, the only upkeep is cleaning out the box once a year. Having natural predators is so much better than using poisons to get rid of rodents on your property. One family of owls can easily eat more than 3,000 rodents a year, basically for free!

Backyard Barn Owls is a website created by a couple in California that basically fell in love with their resident barn owls. Be sure to check out the video clips they have on their site.

Another incredible cool fact is that the owls eat all of their prey, fur, bones and all! They can not digest all of it however, so they also produce owl pellets which look like big fur balls. These pellets are regurgitated and they fall in the nest, or sometimes on the ground. Here is a lovely video from the London Zoo. Their barn owl Willow is quite the charmer and you can watch him eat some mice.

Owl pellets may not be pretty to look at, but they can give people interested in owls a good opportunity to see just what an owl eats. One group of scientists studied the owl pellets from the nest of one pair of barn owls. They examined 200 pellets and they found 406 mice skulls, 20 rat skulls and 20 shrew skulls!

There is a virtual owl pellet dissector you can try. You can also buy sterilized owl pellets to dissect at home. You only want to handle pellets that are properly sterilized, so don't pick up any that you may find on the ground.

If you are lucky enough to be able to dissect a pellet, there will probably be several rodent skeletons in each pellet. It is fun to count all the different bones and estimate the number of rodents in each pellet. Those barn owls are great hunters! Did you know they are completely silent when they fly? They have specially designed feathers that are soft enough to not make a sound. This comes in very handy when they are swooping down on their prey. They are also extremely graceful when they fly.

If you are interested, there are several owl cam sites you can visit. As with all of nature's creatures, sometimes the barn owl/owlets becomes prey for another predator. But checking in on an owl family is a wonderful experience in general. Please read the information on the web cam sites to see if viewing their web cams is for you.

Smart Girls Have More Fun

2008-12-15T09:48:00.000-08:00

Comedian, actor Amy Poehler gets a Smart Girls Fun Award for developing her web series Smart Girls at the Party . She hosts the show with two of her real life friends. How novel for girls to be encouraged to make lasting friendships.

Here Amy celebrates and interviews preteen smart girls. The girls are allowed to just be themselves. They talk about their lives, their interests and their talents. They are the girls next door. They get to have a little dance party at the end of the show. How refreshing to see girls just being girls. They smile and giggle! They are confident! They are having fun! They are intelligent! They aren't chasing boys around!

Here is one of my favorite episodes. A young writer with a terrific personality.

Wonderful, playful, intelligent interviews Amy!!

I was a little worried when I saw the Barbie ads for Smart Girls at the Party. But seeing the latest marketing of Barbie (and considering Bratz dolls have probably and finally ended their reign) I am hopeful that Barbie is finally getting a wake up call. I hear rumours that the new Barbie (in all her marketing glory, including not only the traditional dolls, but also Barbie Girls virtual game world, the Barbie website and Barbie movies) is becoming more and more adventurous, independent, athletic and goal-oriented. I still see mostly fashion, decorating and gossip on these websites. I don't think a little fashion will hurt anyone, but I really want to see girlhood being mostly about creative fun and adventure. You know, like boyhood.

But maybe, just maybe I will take my dear five year old Barbie into a little Barbie Land. I would love to see dentist Barbie reintroduced wearing something other than just a lab coat. A pair of pants would be great. I think my daughter is smart enough to pick out the fun and adventure from Barbie. And she will definitely be watching the Smart Girl at the Party webisodes.

Hug Your Smart Girl Today!!

Volcano Construction

2008-11-17T12:48:00.000-08:00

Dear daughter got a Young Scientist Club science kit for her birthday. She made and exploded her very own volcano. Absolutely loved the entire project!! You actually can make your very own volcano from materials at home:

MATERIALS

1- shoe box lid
1- ~16 oz. plastic bottle- empty (we used a Gatorade bottle)

2 pieces construction paper

mixing bowl

newspaper

2 cups flour

2 cups warm water

black paint and paintbrush

baking soda

vinegar

red food coloring

liquid dish soap

funnel

scissors

tape

DIRECTIONS

1. Tape the plastic bottle upright in the center of the shoe box lid. Wrap a piece of the construction paper around half of the bottle so it is a cone shape. You may have to trim the bottom of the paper. You want the paper to meet evenly with the top of the bottle. Tape the other piece of construction paper on the other side of bottle so that the bottle is completely surrounded. Tape the paper down securely on the shoe box lid.

2. Cover your work area with newspaper. Tear one section of newspaper (or magazine paper) into one inch strips. Combine water and flour in mixing bowl. Use this flour paste right away by dragging a piece of newspaper strip through the paste and remove extra paste by running your fingers down the strip. Place coated strip on the volcano and repeat until volcano is completely covered in the paper mache'. You can make it as thick as you like. Once the volcano is covered, it will need to dry. This may take a day or two.

3. Once dry, paint the volcano with the black paint. It should be nice and sturdy and able to used for many eruptions.

4. Once the paint is dry, you can prepare the lava. Here is a starter recipe for the lava, but your young scientist can be a real chemist and experiment with different combinations and amounts. Just make sure to place all ingredients in the bottle except the vinegar- which should be added last. We mixed everything but the vinegar in a mixing bowl and then poured this into the bottle/volcano using a funnel. Then we poured in the vinegar.

Tell your young scientist that mixing vinegar and baking soda produces a gas and this causes the explosion. You can pour out the remaining lava after eruption and start again.

Happy Exploding!!

LAVA RECIPE

4 teaspoons of baking soda

1/4 cup of warm water

5 drops of liquid dish detergent

5 drops of red food coloring

1/4 cup vinegar

Photography for Kids

2008-09-12T10:25:00.000-07:00

These pictures were taken by an amateur photographer. My then eight-year old son. All my kids are interested in photography. They love to capture images when we travel, or take goofy shots of themselves and their friends. What an easy and expressive way to be creative!!

I found a couple of great websites today. Big Learning Photography for Kids has much information and links. I think any beginning photographer (myself included) can learn a lot about photography from this site. BetterPhoto.com is a fun site with lots of help to take better pictures. Fun photo assignments and tips too.

There are lots of cheap digital cameras today. My kid's photos help me appreciate their view of the world!! As we know, sometimes a photo is worth a thousand words. And it is much quieter too ;)

Flight Finch Coming in For Landing...

2008-09-10T11:48:00.000-07:00

Fishing on the Fly

2008-09-03T06:43:00.001-07:00

Tea for Four

2008-08-29T11:08:00.000-07:00

So my daughter picked two of her favorite friends and we all went to our local tea house for tea and lunch. Of course, two of her favorite friends (Jan and Hayley) are grown women and happen to be good friends of mine. This just gives you an idea of how my daughter rolls. Of course, I do believe she has excellent taste in friends ;)

This her expression just as our friends arrive:

And then we all get settled in for a nice lunch....

It was a lovely day! Dear daughter put on her tea best. She found some lace gloves in her dress up drawer and a cute dress up hat that was a little too small for her blossoming brain and head. She is still wearing her badge of honor- the bandaids the nurse put on her after her kindergarten shots.

Little tea sandwiches, some scones, fruit and treats. A pot of Raspberry Delight tea. Some sugar cubes and doilies. Little silver spoons. Over the top flowers everywhere. It was just the right amount of little girl fun for us all.

As one article puts it "Being Polite Makes Everyone Feel Good." It seems there is a resurgence of tea houses in America. We must desperately need quality time and a quiet place for enjoying each other's company. I hope a tea house is near you so you can enjoy a little tea with your little smart girl!

And for those of you visiting from Hayley's blog, the kids cooking website Hayley mentioned is Spatulatta. I don't think dear daughter got her recipe from there. I am not sure where she got her coconut bird feeder knowledge. I have trouble keeping up with her. But you can all make your wild birds a Christmas present by following the directions for this coconut bird feeder. I am sure your birds and your smart girls will love this project. Ribbons are optional!

Fur Purr Special in Aisle 5

2008-08-13T07:34:00.001-07:00

The Alice Project

2008-08-11T10:50:00.000-07:00

As some of you may know, Randy Pausch (the professor from Carnegie Mellon who gave The Last Lecture) was an incredible soul who recently passed away from pancreatic cancer. If you have not seen his Last Lecture- I highly recommend it. He gave the lecture after he was diagnosed with his terminal illness. In every way, his presentation was beautiful, humorous, wonderful and inspiring. After seeing the video on You Tube, I had to know more. He mentioned his legacy- a computer program designed to teach computer programming skills to kids and college students called The Alice Project. The project is a program that uses a 3D modality to create animated stories. Check out the Alice Storytelling version. It is designed for middle school-aged kids. One of his grad students, Caitlin Kelleher, created this version. She did research and found the story-telling format was an especially good way for girls to learn basic computer programming. I am very appreciative of the fact that she investigated how best to teach our girls computer programming skills.

You can download the Alice program and/or the Storytelling Alice for free. My nine year-old son LOVED using the storytelling version. It is really a simple, yet impressive design with drag and drop components. If you make a wrong move, the pop up text will tell you how to proceed. Very creative and smart- just like the smart girls (and boys) I know!

Who knows how many people will be touched by this legacy? Both Professors Pausch and Kelleher get Smart Girls Fun Awards for Excellence!!

Sporty Girls and Sporty Moms

2008-08-04T20:18:00.000-07:00

Most everyone understands that sports are great for a girl's health and self-esteem. You may not realize how much mothers influence their daughter's attitude about sports and their participation. There is a great website called Moms Team which has lots of great resources for youth sport parents. Currently they have a wonderful article posted:

Raising An Athletic Daughter: Moms Play Key Role
Helping Your Daughter Develop a Love For the Game
By Brooke de Lench

Please see the link above for the actual article
**************************************************************************************
She does a nice job pointing out all the little things a mom can do to encourage her girl athlete besides cheering her on during a game: participating in organized sports herself, talking about her own athletic past, going to see professional/college level women's teams play, encourage father's to "play rough", play catch, take girls' sports just as seriously as boys'. The author also encourages parents to talk to daughters about the term "tomboy" and how to overcome the label since it implies that girls who love sports are inappropriately masculine. I always preferred the term "sporty girl" to tomboy. But I really wish that girls were expected to be as athletic as boys so no special term for athletic girls was necessary.

I also wish our local girls' soccer league will stop making the girl teams play in baby pink, lavender or baby yellow jerseys. Why do boys get more colors???? Why do the girls have to have a different palette? I wonder if the rules are the same.......I surely hope so. My daughter is still playing coed under 6 soccer. I hope that soon the sports world will be gender blind as far as uniforms, playing fields, practice times, coaching experience and school support. If you find disparity in your daughter's sports team vs. the corresponding boy's team, don't be afraid to speak up about it.

I have the above design and more sporty girl designs up on my smart girls store. I hope to make many more soon!

The Adventures of Josie True

2008-07-28T16:57:00.000-07:00

What a great find! A website designed to encourage smart girls to use their smarts for fun and adventure. I hope you can check out their website. Mary Flanagan is the creator and she proudly features multi-cultural characters and ignores the typical girly girl stereotypes. Very nice adventure game. I would think girls in grades 3-6 would really like the site. There is also a great resource section, experiments, math games and other activities on the site.

Here are some excerpts from their homepage and their FAQ section:

The Adventures of Josie True is a web-based historical adventure game for girls. The hero of the game is Chinese-American Josie True, a regular girl who becomes involved in intrigue across time and space as she tries to find her inventor-turned-teacher Ms. Trombone. She time travels with one of Ms. Trombone's inventions,the Intellicat .
During their travels, they meet a host of historical figures including women from history such as Bessie Coleman, the first African American woman pilot. At each stop in the journey, there are fun, rewarding activities to play in order to find Ms. Trombone, stop the artifact thieves, help Bessie Coleman at her airshow, and much more!

Q. Why are you giving the project away for free?

A. This is a conscious choice before we even started the project. This is a not-for-profit project funded by the NSF--it is designed so that girls will be able to get involved in the Internet and in science and math educational opportunities for free. We want to give real girls good content and provide real historical role models to girls in a science and math context. There is too much money at stake in the software industry for developers to take (what they perceive as) market risks; unfortunately, that means that we see less diversity in the products available to girls. In addition, software is too expensive for the average family or the average school, and since the project is funded, it should be in the hands of as many people as possible. So send friends and family our way!

Our little smart girl....

2008-07-23T10:08:00.000-07:00

Getting Buggy

2008-07-15T08:42:00.000-07:00

My daughter received a Bugville Live Butterfly Treehouse as a gift at her birthday party. It is listed under $16 at Amazon. You are required to send in $6 for five painted lady caterpillars and their food. The directions seem pretty simple, and three weeks later you are releasing the painted butterflies in your yard!

We just ordered the caterpillars and we can't wait to start "growing" them. The manufacturer Insect Lore also has a website. Here they provide all kinds of buggy information and games. Looks like they also make products for raising ants, lady bugs and other buggy collections.

We are hoping for success in our butterfly enterprise!

Three Lovely Ladies

2008-07-09T08:45:00.000-07:00

Olympic Fun

2008-07-06T19:15:00.000-07:00

We are so excited to be watching the Olympic Trials. Wish we had more than the limited coverage offered on our cable channels.....

We have a local phenom. A 16 year old girl who qualified for the 1500M finals. She was not expected to make the Olympic team, and she didn't. But what an inspiration she is! Her name is Jordan Hasay, so watch for her the next Olympic Games. Here is a video of her semi-final run.

I also found a great blog called sportsgirlsplay. The author blogs about female athletes and has done a very nice job of highlighting some strong Olympic trial performances by American women. Check it out to see some other great videos and a fabulous shot of 41 year old, first place finisher, swimmer Dara Torres holding her 2 year old daughter.

So many great women athletes. I am happy to see they seem to be covering the women's events as much as the men's. I hope you and your family can enjoy the upcoming Olympic Games!

SpongeBob is funny, but so is Sandy. Where is Sandy?

2008-07-02T08:38:00.000-07:00

No-Added Sugar Apple Tart anyone?

2008-07-01T12:45:00.000-07:00

My friend Hayley got me thinking about how fun and educational it is to cook with your kids. She posted her grandmother's famous fruit leather recipe on her blog recently. How fun, easy and economical this home made version is! And no artificial anything. How wonderfully simple.

When you think about it- cooking involves math, science, a little bit of engineering, adventure, exploration, following directions and artistic presentation. Personally, I haven't had much luck with kid cookbooks. Recipes seem too complicated and unpredictable. Our skyscraper waffle city looked nothing like the photo! It didn't taste very good either.

So, I consulted my good friend Mr. Google. I was pleased to find a website called Spatulatta. Brilliant website that has over 200 videos of actual kids making actual, fantastically simple recipes. They also have some fun games, contests, art in the kitchen ideas, out takes, basic skills review and other food adventures.

The No-Sugar Added Apple Tart from their video collection sure looks good. Will try that out with the kids this week.....

If you know any good kids in the kitchen cooking resources or recipes, please leave a comment.

As always, this blog writer is not paid to endorse any product or website!

Wave Machine

2008-06-19T06:58:00.000-07:00

I thought I would occasionally post some Smart Girl Projects. Of course, these are fun for smart boys and parents too. These wave machines can last a long time and are endlessly fascinating for kids!

MATERIALS:

One empty, clear plastic soda bottle, or any large clear plastic bottle with screw on cap
Water
Blue Food Coloring
Mineral oil

CONSTRUCTION:

Fill the bottle 2/3 full with water.
Add blue food coloring, one drop at a time, until the water is
"ocean blue" in color.
Fill the rest of the jar with mineral oil.
Get rid of as any air bubbles as you can and secure lid tightly.
Hold the bottle gently sideways and gently tip it, creating
delightful wave actions.

Note: Sometimes after a lot of rough use, the liquids in the bottle become cloudy.
Set the wave machine aside for a few hours and the liquids will become
clear again.

I've Been Working on the Railroad (AKA make my brothers do all the work)

2008-06-18T06:56:00.000-07:00

America the Beautiful

2008-06-13T08:18:00.000-07:00

I was going to wait until I saw this documentary film to blog about it. But I realize it may be sometime before I can, because the kids just got out of school. I would not have even heard of " America the Beautiful" if I had not checked out Roger Ebert's site recently. It is a film about a year in the life of a 12 year old girl turned fashion supermodel. It looks like a mostly bitter, bittersweet experience for this girl. So, if you are lucky enough to have this film come near you, consider seeing it. And if you see it, consider being so kind as to commenting on it here.

Here is a little blurb about the film's creator by Roger Ebert. Entire article here.

Following a young beauty down a short runway

June 9, 2008

by Roger Ebert

A man from Chicago named Darryl Roberts made "America the Beautiful," a documentary that nobody wanted. It was about our obsession with being thin and beautiful and... perfect. Every distributor in the country turned him down. They told him he was black, and the 12-year-old fashion model at the center of the film was black, and blacks don't go to documentaries. He finally talked it into the American Film Institute's festival in Dallas, where it sold out four shows, "and 99 percent of the audience was white. Not that it means anything."

And here is a blurb from his review of the film:

America the Beautiful

May 9, 2008

Cast & Credits Arenas Group presents a documentary written, directed and narrated by Darryl Roberts. Running time: 103 minutes. Rated R (for some language). Opening today at Landmark Century.

By Roger Ebert

The documentary "America the Beautiful" is not shrill or alarmist, nor does it strain to shock us. Darryl Roberts, its director and narrator, speaks mostly in a pleasant, low-key voice. But the film is pulsing with barely suppressed rage, and by the end, I shared it. It's about a culture "saturated with the perfect," in which women are taught to seek an impossible physical ideal, and men to worship it.

I usually avoid this subject matter (child beauty pageants and some child modeling) because it angers me so. The closest I have gotten was"Little Miss Sunshine." A great film. In general the little girl "beauty queens" give me the creeps because they do not resemble little girls at all. They tend to look like miniature dolls, robotic and fake.

I think we can send much better messages to our girls than pile on the hairspray, makeup and inappropriate clothes and compete girl vs. girl. One child pageant's website had a photo of three or four year old girls standing there with their crowns. The pageant description: "Contestants are judged on 50% Facial Beauty, 25% Personality and 25% Stage Presence. Events include T-shirt, Interview, Casual Wear, Party Wear and Swimwear"

Sad to see facial beauty is twice as important as personality. And don't even get me started on swimsuit divisions for toddlers....................... I have seen claims that these pageants teach young girls "life skills." Huh? Facial beauty and stage presence (and let's not forget the "personality" they are looking for) will get you through life? Me thinks this is a recipe for an eating disorder, and/or insecurity and unhappiness. Girls are so much better than this.

I just don't understand how sexualizing children became so mainstream. Have we really been so blind? And the entire female body image industry- promoting insecurity and unattainable beauty for profit. It will be a hard fight with so much profit at stake.

I am happy that a man took the time to look closer at the beauty/fashion industry. The industry people speak for themselves and have oh so much to say. Check out their comments on Darryl Robert's website. They are funny in a sick kind of way.

So I give Darryl Roberts a Smart Girls Fun A+ Award for caring so much for our girls to make a film that will raise awareness about the attitudes of the fashion industry. Bravo!

Smart Girls Chess

2008-06-05T09:03:00.000-07:00

I was thinking about chess the other day. I have to give my father credit. In the early 1970's, he taught all three of his young daughters how to play chess. I still enjoy the game. When I recently unearthed the chess board, put away during the baby is going to choke on little things stage, all three of our kids were immediately fascinated. We now keep the board in open sight and it is put to good use frequently. Our boys (age 9 and 6) are already building strategies and our daughter (just turned 5) almost has all of the pieces/moves memorized after just a week. You can really see the wheels turning in their little heads when they are playing.

Our kids' elementary school has an after school chess club starting in the fourth grade. I hope there are some girls taking advantage of this activity. And I hope our daughter will too.

Growing up, I only had my father and my sisters to enjoy the game with. None of my girl friends played. Until I met my husband, I hadn't played a game of chess outside of my family. Now I must say my husband and I haven't played since "the chess incident" in the Houston airport several years ago. Let's just say we played, I was losing big time, he wouldn't let me quit, I got mad and I came back and won. I think our egos have settled down and we can play again soon.

I am sure there still may not be enough awareness for girls' chess. I don't ask my current girl friends if they play. If any of you do- please speak up! And I will start to ask. I did not know of any professional women players either. I am happy to say, once I started looking, I found some.

A great program was put together by Susan Polgar, who became the first ever woman Grandmaster of Chess. Her SPICE (Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence) website has daily puzzles, a training guide and lots of good information for the girl chess player and her parents. I love her girls' chess camp. It is called Chess:It's a Girl Thing!

GoddessChess is another great website. They have links to essays that take on the "girls are too nice for chess" statements. Here is an excerpt from one:

From: "Chess - Are Girls too Nice to Excel in Chess?"
The Sale Lake City Tribune, February 2, 1997http://www.sltrib.com/97/FEB/02/sat/19531281.htm.
by Shelby Lyman
It's an old scenario that continues to be replayed. As girls approach adolescence, they drop out of school chess programs in record numbers. They may keep an interest and later encourage their children to play, but they themselves shy away from chess activity and competition.
My guess is that the phenomenon has something to do with a special characteristic of the game. Chess is the only major sport where males and females encounter each other on equal terms -- where the usual advantage in size, weight and speed of the male is of no consequence.
Chess thus can be a unique head-to-head test of the intelligence, fighting spirit and endurance of the two genders. But it is not a test that many males past childhood relish or care to lose. Girls get the message -- often subliminal -- and too often back off from the confrontation with their male peers and friends.
The phenomenon reminds me of a study of college women in the 1940s who played dumb so their boyfriends (and future husbands) would be comfortable.
Women today are not as likely to downplay their intelligence, but there are still forces that discourage them from direct, aggressive competition with men. Nevertheless, they manage to compete with increasing success in many spheres. Chess remains a notable exception.
Although as a teen-ager I regretted the paucity of women on the chess scene, I was not unaware of the advantage it gave me. Half of my most talented and toughest potential adversaries had been effectively vanquished without my having to lift a finger at the chessboard.

I found out that many of the high school chess competitions award scholarships to the winners. So girls, dust off those chess boards and have some fun!

Playroom by Hayley, Fun for Everyone

2008-06-04T08:47:00.000-07:00

Shiny in Transition

2008-05-28T07:39:00.000-07:00

Scholastic Book Fair

2008-05-27T15:54:00.000-07:00

scholastic (adjective): of or relating to schools

Both of the schools my children attend hold Scholastic Book Fairs at least once every year. A few months ago I volunteered to work at the Scholastic Book Fair booth for a couple of hours. Usually, I let my kids pick out one or two books each as I would steer them clear of the junk books. But during my volunteer time, I was able to really see the full Scholastic Book Fair selection available at this school. I must say I was a little disappointed to see so many junk books. My definition of junk books are books that are just cartoons or movies repackaged. Books are supposed to excite your imagination, not regurgitate already over hyped images. I was especially sad to see that a good portion of the non-commercial books targeting girls were of the Clique, Sealed with a Diss and Once Upon a Prom- 3 pack set variety.

I checked out the featured fair books on Scholastic's site. Thankfully the number of non-commercial vs. commercial books was at least 3 to 1 in each age category. I think if your company's name is Scholastic, then your first priority should be quality and not catering to what is in fashion.

Back to our book fair.........I didn't really comment much to the other parents at the time. I have since learned some of the parents also felt the same way. I found this article. I understand the schools hold these book fairs for two reasons: to encourage reading and to earn money. And I understand the need for more funding for the schools. But how much are we willing to sell out our kids? The article seems to imply that each school can tailor the book selection to some degree. I plan on talking to the organizers about the book selection before the book fairs next year.

Poetry is Fun

2008-05-23T10:27:00.000-07:00

And kids don't have to stop at Dr. Seuss anymore. I was checking out poetry for kids on the web. I am continually impressed with the great resources the Internet provides us all today.

I found this excellent interview with Kenn Nesbitt where he explains just how good poetry is for young minds. If you like Shel Silverstein, you may enjoy Kenn Nesbitt's poetry and site. He has set up a rhyming dictionary, poetry writing contests, funny poetry pod casts and poetry discussion forums for kids on his site. You can even vote for your favorite funny poem.

And please, if you want a big fat smile on your face, check out Shel Silverstein's site. Our kids have lots of fun with the games and puzzles there. And so so I ;)

The poetry zone site has a great links list- for all kinds of kids' poetry, including the gross and grosser kind!

I hope you and your smart girls (and boys) can enjoy some fun poetry. Instead of a half hour of cartoons, try a little Suess or Silverstein instead.

Little Donkey Girl

2008-05-21T06:44:00.000-07:00

Beyonce's Clothing Line for Girls

2008-05-19T11:57:00.000-07:00

I heard a lot of hub bub about her new ad for her company Dereon Girls. So I did some research. By the way, while doing this research I tried to download a video ad for her girl's line and my laptop got infected with a horrible virus. It took me all morning to fix the problem, my two anti-virus cleaners didn't so diddly squat. So $60 later (thank you Stopzilla- but I wish you were cheaper) it is finally removed. I hope the $20 rebate is for real.

Already I am not happy because I figure out Dereon is a play on the word derriere. So basically her company is called House of Booty. With a subdivision Booty Girls. Nice message for our girls. I checked out the clothes first. They carry girls size 7-14, some toddler and infant sizes. Clothes are not risque. Some are cute, most are not my taste. But there are no horrible text designs and nothing revealing or overtly sexual.

Next I check the ad. Hmmmmm...not showing any skin. But it is creepy to see toddlers pout suggestively, toddlers wearing more makeup than I did in the 80's, and toddlers not looking dressed up for fun, but instead dressed up for sex. I am all for women having healthy sex lives. But it is not appropriate, in my humble opinion, to flirt with your sexuality when you are 3 or 4 years old. Not even when you are 7-12 years old.

So Beyonce gets a thumbs down on her advertising campaign from Smart Girls Fun. Hopefully some of the bad press they are receiving will prompt them to rethink their girls' campaign.
If you have a Macy's store near you, they are carrying Dereon Girls. If you see any ad, in print or at the store, that you find offensive- consider speaking up about it to the manager. I complained (nicely of course!) to our local K-mart manager about their selection of girls' graphic tees here. He was considerate. Who knows? Maybe the more we complain, the more things will change.

Got Buddies?

2008-05-14T06:22:00.000-07:00

The Art of Art

2008-05-13T08:40:00.000-07:00

A lot of smart girls (and boys) love to create. Whether it is finger paints, dried pasta and glue, watercolors or crayons, the possibilities are endless. The kids and I have always loved art projects. Every summer, I make sure to include one big project for us to do together. Last year we got some 2"x6"s and cut, sanded and painted them. Then we painted on "Captain's Jack's Treasures" etc. and nailed on some clips. The kids still love the art boards and clip up their artwork and awards from school. It is so easy, for me anyway, to get busy and forget to take the time to encourage art at home. The kids enjoy it so much, so I now literally put it on the calendar.

Of course now we have many online resources. Great art for kids site, an interactive kids art site and an online kids gallery are just a few. If you can, check all three sites- they are fabulous!

I also wanted to mention a great computer graphics program you can download. Paint is free, although they do appreciate donations.

You and your kids can use the program to draw and paint, edit photos, add text, make graphic compositions. I have used it regularly for a few months for my graphic design work. It took a little trial and error to become familiar with all the "tools" and get used to working in layers. Usually, I sketch out a design, scan it and enhance and paint it with the Paint program.

If your kids are younger, you may have to help them. My six year-old son drew this penguin. We scanned it and added a little color and the text with the Paint program.

You can email your child's art to relatives, print it on postcards, t-shirt transfers, photo paper, cards etc. I love today's computer possibilities! Just check out your office supply store to see what kinds of print stock you can use in your printer.

I hope you can find the time for art projects this summer. Summer time is a great art time because you can be inspired by the great outdoors and you can make the messes out there too!

Bird Watching

2008-05-09T08:59:00.000-07:00

Here is a photo of what we call "Fat Bird in a Little Tree" They are golden-crowned sparrows arriving with spring. The apple tree was still bare.

Birding is a great activity for kids. It is fun, educational and relatively low cost. As one of the following websites states, you can give your kids a "lifetime ticket to the theater of nature." From colors, songs, habitats, nests, feeding habits, migration, and personalities- birds have so much to offer. We love it when we get a bird surprise around town, or a new bird visitor at home. Our kids love the birds. I once overheard my daughter describe her pets as "three dogs, two cats and a whole lotta birds."

The kids helped put up our bluebird houses and they got a real kick out of looking at the used nests once nesting season was over. Lots of bird poop- LOL.

To get started you need a good bird field guide and a pair of binoculars. You can check your local library for bird watching books and field guides to see which ones work best for your family. Good binoculars can be expensive, but you can buy an inexpensive pair and do just fine. I found a few online birdwatching resources for kids and their parents:

http://www.birdwatching.com/tips/kids_birding.html

http://www.easyfunschool.com/article1975.html

http://www.surfnetkids.com/birds.htm

We got into birds a few years ago. Put up some feeders, learned about the birds that frequent our yard. It is a whole new world out there when you can appreciate all the different birds. We hike in our neighborhood and see new birds regularly. We put in a small pond on our property and we get even more types of bird visitors. And when we got out of state on vacation, we are treated with new birds too.

I have a special love of bluebirds. They are in decline since finding a good nesting spot is so challenging for them. They are very beautiful bug-eating birds! Putting up a bluebird box can be a rewarding experience. Please check out the bluebird website as they have special requirements for nesting and the boxes should be monitored.

I hope you have or can find time for birds in your life.

Now Mom, that is Just Mean

2008-05-07T03:26:00.000-07:00

Sporty Girls

2008-05-06T08:40:00.000-07:00

A friend found this article. Heartwarming story. I think sports are so great for girls. For health, for sportsmanship, for leadership, for body image, for fun.

Our daughter is fairly active and played her first organized sport last fall. She played soccer. She was four years old and that sounds young. Both her brothers started playing at the same age and they loved it. We asked her and she wanted to play. She did spend some time following Cute Boy, good grief, on her team around and did almost score a goal or two.

This year, she wants to play football. Actually girls are allowed to play football in our town's youth football league. There have been some girls playing over the years. Unfortunately it only lasts a year or two, because the opposing teams are merciless. Our little girl will stick with soccer for now. You have to be in third grade to play football. We are very much hoping she finds another sport to try by then.

If you have a sporty girl or want to encourage your girl to participate in sports, check out the girl go girl website. And lace up your sneakers, cleats, hiking boots, golf shoes, fins, skis, or skates yourself. An active and adventurous parent is a fantastic role model.

I can't wait to show our kids all the world's great female athletes in the upcoming Olympics. I especially enjoy the women divers and gymnasts.

Think of all the active and not-so-active activities your girls will be doing this summer. Hopefully, there is a good balance. And I hope you all will be able to enjoy the Olympics!

Little Betty Crocker

2008-04-30T06:17:00.001-07:00

Barbie Dolls

2008-04-29T13:14:00.000-07:00

What is the deal with Barbie dolls today? My daughter has a few, but she has little interest in playing with them. When I was a kid, some 30 years ago cough, cough, Barbie was a big part of girlhood in my neighborhood. With my mother being a feminist of sorts, my two sisters and I were not allowed to have baby dolls or to play house. But we were allowed stuffed animals and Barbies. Mother was all about consistency wink, wink.

My girlfriends and sisters and I would play for hours with them. We made stuff out of shoe boxes if we didn't have the right Barbie furniture. We lost lots of little shoes. We ran over Ken in the Barbie Corvette because, well, we didn't see much point in having Ken around. We made a school, fashion show, pool and house- all sized for Barbie. We took the dolls to the beach, to the pool, on car trips, to grandma's house. We even had some of my aunt's Barbie stuff from when she was a kid. We traded Barbie stuff. We got each other Barbie birthday gifts. We tried to blow dry her hair and paint her nails. Never turned out well. We popped off Barbie's head and switched her body. We got a Cher doll and were disappointed we couldn't swap her clothes with Barbie- wrong size.

At the time, I didn't think much about the impossible body proportions she had. I just wished her shoes stayed on better. Finally at the age of 12, I decided I had outgrown Barbie and I sold all my Barbie stuff at our family garage sale.

Do girls still play with Barbies? Did Mattell ruin it by making specialized Barbies and cheap accessories to zap out any imaginative play? Read this interesting article. I did notice a change when I ran across Dentist Barbie. I don't see much Barbie action around my daughter's circle of friends. This may be good or bad, depending on how you look at it.

Barbie's website is awfully sparkly, but she does say "I love to play sports. It's a great way to get fit and have fun."

So in conclusion, I think the smart girl can have fun with Barbie and keep a healthy body image for themselves. It will be interesting to see where Barbie goes these next few years.

Dare to be a Smart Girl

2008-04-27T10:07:00.000-07:00

I go back and forth on whether or not I want my four year old daughter to grow up faster. We can't go out all day (shops, galleries, museums) yet, because we still have to do "snack" and there is the "dragging her around" stage that inevitably happens. Not looking forward to hug and kiss rationing for mom or the all day phone-a-thons about nothing with her girlfriends or gasp! boyfriends. But to see a hint of the woman she will become is exciting, yet her doe-eyed innocence is to be cherished. Yesterday, on the way home from a friend's birthday party she asks me in the car "Mom, what do you think Sara's life will bring her now that she is five?"

Anyway, maybe I want her to grow up a wee little bit to do some of the more daring things in the fantastic book The Daring Book for Girls by Andy Buchanan and Miriam Peskowitz. BTW, Miriam was nice enough to email me back and support my work here on the smart girls blog.

I will list some chapter titles and you will see how much fun this book will be for me, I mean for dear daughter! I think even the adult smart girls (you know who you are!) would love this book too. Hayley- there is a section on short-sheeting beds on page 194 ;) There are so many great chapters, didn't want to leave any out. So I will post the second half sometime later.
I hope to use the book a lot this summer!

The Daring Book For Girls

CONTENTS

Essential Gear
Rules of the Game: Basketball
Rules of the Game: Net Ball
Palm Reading
The History of Writing, and Writing in Cursive Italics
Fourteen Games of Tag
Spanish Terms of Endearment, Idioms and Other Items of Note
Daring Spanish Girls
Pressing Flowers
Four Square
Princesses Today
How to Whistle with Two Fingers
Chinese Jump Rope
Double Dutch Jump Rope
How to Tie a Sari
Hopscotch, Tether ball, Jump Rope
Queens of the Ancient World I: Wise Artemisia
Knots and Stitches
Rules of the Game: Softball
Caring for your Softball Glove
Playing cards: Hearts and Gin
South Sea Islands
Putting your Hair up with a Pencil
Cartwheels and Back Walk-overs
Weather
Lemon Powered clock
Snowballs
Every Girl's Toolbox
Going to Africa
Bandanna Tying
Five Karate Moves
The Daring Girls Guide to Danger
French Terms of Endearment, Expressions and Other Items of Note
Joan of Arc
Making a Willow Whistle
Periodic Table of Elements
Vinegar and Baking Soda
Rules of the Game: Bowling
Queens of the Ancient World II: Salome Alexandra of Judea
Secret Garden
Friendship Bracelets
Slumber Party Games
Making a Cloth-Covered Book
Pirates
A Short History of Women Inventors and Scientists
Sleep-Outs
The Sit-Upon
Lamp, Lantern, Flashlight
Explorers
Campfire Songs
Abigail Adam's Letters with John Adams
Clubhouses and Forts
Daisy Chains and Ivy Crowns
God's Eyes/ Ojos de Dios
Writing Letters
Reading Tide Charts
Making a Siene Net
Women Spies
How to be a Spy

Now I do have some lemons and could use a new clock. Going to see if dear daughter is available for some daring adventure............

Yes, It is a Cookie

2008-04-23T06:30:00.001-07:00

See post below for more cookie info!

Smart Cookie

2008-04-22T19:17:00.000-07:00

Isn't this cookie fabulous?
I am lucky enough to know her creator. CeRae has her own cookie business Sweet Dreams here in California. Lucky for everyone out there, she can ship her cookies just about anywhere. We are cooking (well, she is cooking) up something for my daughter's upcoming birthday. Will show ya later ;)

Here are a few more examples of her incredible creations:

I love to see creative women start their own businesses. Great role models for our girls!

So I decided to ask CeRae a few questions about how she got her business started. Please share with any smart girls in your neck of the woods!

******************************************
Where did you grow up?
My Dad was in the army, and my parents were divorced when I was six. So my sister and I moved A LOT. I was born in California, but we also lived in Germany, Texas,Florida, and Oklahoma, with a few other stops in between.

What was the first kind of baking you did?
I didn’t start baking until I was a grown up, but I do remember my Aunt teaching me how to make scrambled eggs when I was 8. I stood on a stool at the stove, and she helped me step by step. I was very proud of myself and thought it was the neatest thing to be able to make breakfast for my cousins, and I’ve loved scrambled eggs ever since!

What did your parents do to encourage you to succeed in life?
My Mother is a very smart girl! She worked very hard to work and go to nursing school when we were kids. She also loves to read. She encouraged my love of reading and always encouraged me to work hard in school and to go to college.

What education do you have?
I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Sustainable Agriculture and Entomology from The Evergreen State College in Washington State. I also went to art school for one year in Philadelphia, PA. I love science and studying the natural world. I see beauty, color,and art in everything around me - from an insect under a microscope, to wildflowers blooming in the spring, to COOKIES!

How did you learn to decorate cookies so beautifully?
Experimenting!
I was invited to a Holiday cookie exchange party in 2006 and decided to decorate some
snowflake cookies like ones I had seen on a magazine cover. I read some directions on
basic cookie frosting, mixed up some colors, and experimented until I came up with
some of my own designs that I liked. Each cookie I’ve done since then is basically the same process.

When did you start your cookie business?
Since everyone at the cookie exchange party liked my cookies so much, I thought I might be on to something. So, around the spring of 2007 I decided to start Sweet Dreams.

What is the best part of your job?
Being able to express myself creatively, spending time in my kitchen, and making people smile!

What part do you find the most difficult?
Finding enough time to do it all.

Have you had any huge kitchen disasters?
During this past Christmas season I had a lot of cookie orders to fill. I was working around the clock to make sure that I had enough cookies. One morning I found my 3 year old hiding behind a chair in his brother’s room. He had taken one of my cookies,unwrapped it, and was nibbling away!!
What I learned from this was to always try to be prepared - since then I make sure
to decorate a few extra cookies (in case some get broken... or eaten :)

What kinds of cookie activities would you recommend to smart girls?
Let your imagination go wild! Any idea can be made into a cookie. There are hundreds of cookie cutter shapes out there. And if you can’t find the shape you’re thinking of,you could get a grown up to help you make a cookie cutter (there are kits available online). I make a lot of my own cookie cutters. Think of the cookie as a piece of paper,and the frosting as paint - it really is a piece of artwork that you can eat when you’re finished!

************************************************

I would like to thank CeRae for doing the first official Smart Girls Fun Interview. As you can see, I know a smart girl when I see one :)

Starring in Your Own Fairytale

2008-04-17T21:44:00.000-07:00

I drew this fairy yesterday. My first real art contribution to my graphic design collection. I put her in a few designs in my smart girls store. Anyway, I think she turned out pretty good ;) And I like the frog prince design. I hope you can check it out. Don't miss the mother earth section- one hidden in there.

Keeping it short and sweet today because we are on our way out. Going on our last ski trip and the darn cabin has no wireless. Boohoo I will be blogless!

Speaking of sweet, I hope I will have a sweet surprise for you all next week.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Warding Off Bad Dreams

2008-04-16T05:10:00.001-07:00

A Roller Coaster Ride

2008-04-15T10:19:00.000-07:00

this parenting stuff is. I had better get used to it. Just when I was thinking things are going well for our girls, I see this article. What the heck is this? Disturbing sure. But what is driving teenage girls to send nude photos out on cell phones? Do they think it will be kept private? Do they want it to be forwarded? Why are they risking so much to be seen as sexual? What is it costing them? Is it not enough to be sexual in private- now they need to show the world? Are porn queens at the career day fair?

I remember the high school hormone days. But I didn't see or hear about any naked pictures in circulation. OK there was the one time one girl pulled out a Polaroid picture and flashed us freshman with it in the girls locker room. That was traumatic enough!

Is it just technology? Are teens wired different now? Is it the media MTV, VH-1, surfing the net? I just don't get it. I wish I knew a teen girl well enough to have a candid conversation about it. I just don't get why this is "the norm." In my opinion, it is hard enough to come to terms with your sexual self in high school. Figuring out how to deal with hormones, emotions and respect for yourself without planning your next porn pose to send out on the world wide web.

I guess forwarding pictures of your A papers would not get you up in the ranks of the skanks in high school. Just say NO to teen porn! LOL it is sad that little girls can use that message.............................

Nim's Island

2008-04-11T10:17:00.000-07:00

Our whole family saw this movie last weekend and LOVED it. It is based on the book by Wendy Orr. I think it is a good movie for smart girls because:

the main character is a girl

girl is self-directed

girl loves to read

girl swims, climbs, uses tools

girl does not apply makeup

girl has adventures

girl has fun

girl has a respectful dad and wonderful relationship with him

girl does NOTHING to catch or want a boyfriend

Of course, there is the absent (tragically lost) mother. And there is a little damsel-in-distress element. But the savior shows up as a neurotic woman. Woman and girl kind of save each other. BTW said woman is Jodie Foster and she is just FANTASTIC in a split-your-side-giggling role.

I hightly recommend the film for everyone. And the cinematography is incredible!

I need to read the book now.

It must be the spring air because I found more good news for girls. Our elementary school's gazette had the following announcement:

Attention All 4th-8th Grade Girls:
Girl Scout Engineering Day
At Local Polytechnic State University
Saturday, May 17, 2008
9:00 am - 12:30 pm
Come have fun in hands-on labs in:
Aerospace Engineering
Materials Engineering
Mechanical Engineering
Environmental Engineering
and Forensic Science

So a big Hooray Award for the girl scouts and all the universities/organizations hosting Girl Scout Engineering Days. Even if your girl is not a scout, check out the girlsgotech site and watch for any upcoming events in your area.

She wants karaoke party for her birthday.....

2008-04-09T07:14:00.000-07:00

Webkinz World

2008-04-07T08:58:00.000-07:00

All three of my kids have been busy with Webkinz stuff for the past 5 months or so. I really like the concept. For those not familiar, basically you buy a small stuffed animal. $5-$20@. Toy comes with a code and kids go online to the webkinz website and "register" their pet. They pick out a username, name their pet, and chose male or female for their pet. They get a starter amount of "kinzcash." The Webkinz website is like training for real life. They have to decide where to spend their money. They have to feed their pet, take it to the doctor, exercise pet and play with it, furnish it's room. They can also go to the job board and work for more money, or play an arcade game or answer quiz questions. I like the unisex reality. My boys both love to "cook" and grow gardens. My daughter's favorite is gem mining. You can buy clothes- pinky stuff available. But nowhere does it say "pretty princess" on the clothes. If webkinz adhered to popular kid marketing strategy- the boys would be buying guns and the girls would be buying cell phones. And they would have separate stores, jobs, chat rooms and games. The only thing I found distasteful was the real life webkinz lip gloss and body spray for girls. I just don't think girls (ages 5-12 which is the target age) need to worry about what their body smells like. Luckily, I only see the toys and the trading cards at the stores.

The kids can go to different chat rooms and interact with kids all over the world, play tournament games and visit each other's rooms. It all seems predator-safe. The kids can only pick from scripted choices for the "chats" and visits. There is no dialogue in the tournament arena. I am really not doing the webkinz justice. There is so much to do, and room for kids to find their own niche within the site. Oh and I personally love the post office. Kids can send virtual (scripted) letters and gifts to other kids. They have to pay kinzcash postage and for any extras: gift wrap, etc.

If you are curious- check it out! And my 9yo third grade boy just has a blast. I don't think he is bragging to his friends about it, but he sure has fun ;) They have bulldog, gorilla, frog, tiger toy for the non-foofoo kids.

So Webkinz gets a big Smart Kids Award from me. Great gifts for birthday parties!

Kmart, Shmaymart

2008-04-04T10:26:00.000-07:00

OK, I did go in and ask to see the manager after picking up some of the horrible t-shirts, etc. at our local Kmart. Boy, that manager looked like he couldn't wait to talk to ~~crazy wacko~~ me. He was nice enough and admitted that:
1) maybe the messages were not the best (but he didn't think they were overtly horrible)
2) he would not let his own daughter wear any of them
3) they have pulled merchandise the management has found overtly offensive before
4) he would bring up at his next regional (or whatever) meeting that some customers are not happy with these graphic designs.

So I chalk up a teensy victory. I thanked him for his time, and told him he has a hard job. If anyone has ever worked retail, his job is pretty much a non-stop nightmare. And I did tell him that since my daughter is starting to read, she will not be going to the children's clothes section "because I do not want her to think that is what being a girl is all about."

I would encourage anyone that feels the same, to please take a couple of minutes and discuss the matter with the store manager. Maybe each little complaint will equal big change- someday!

OK now for some funny kid stories. We are doing our spring round up outside. Dear hubby pays the kids to pull the weeds. We were quite surprised when dear daughter was crying when her brother pulled "her" weed. It turns out she got some carrot seeds, planted them months ago in the flower bed and forgot about them. Pulled up the bunch to find some carrots. They were pretty tasty!

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

2008-04-02T06:45:00.000-07:00

The Kmart Saga Continues...

2008-04-01T19:42:00.000-07:00

So as some of you know, I am still furious about the HORRIBLE graphic tees I recently found at our local Kmart. I wrote them an email, got a form response. I then said I wanted to communicate with the parent company and a customer service rep gave me the corporate address for SEARS.
I just mailed them a letter, reiterating what I said in my Boo Hiss post. I will let you know if I get any response.

So it is funny how things work out. I was checking out the hardy girls healthy women website today and found an article about girls in action from December 2006. These girls were protesting Kmart and their awful t-shirt depicting violence on a girl cartoon character by a boy. Kmart/Sears tried to say it was "light-hearted." I am really at a loss with this company. For over a year now (at least) they chose to bimbo-fy, degrade and occasionally show violence on little girls ages 4 and up?

I obviously need to do more research on Kmart and their history. I have looked extensively at Kmart's competition (locally) and I can safely say that Target, Kohl's, Mervyn's, Walmart and The Children's Place have markedly better messages for girls on their graphic apparel. If I don't get the answers I want, I smell a petition or at least a lot of squawking from me. I am just tired of the disrespect I am seeing at this store. I will talk to the manager tomorrow. If anybody reading this blog finds these kind of t-shirts at their local store and you feel strongly they should not be there, please call the manager and tell him or her. Maybe they will finally get the message.

And I want to personally thank Drs. Lamb and Brown for getting back to me so promptly and allowing me to quote their book Packaging Girlhood (my inspiration book) on this blog.

Boo Hiss Awards part two

2008-03-29T09:57:00.000-07:00

First to buck tradition, I am going to announce good news first. We just returned from our ski week up in Tahoe. Great weather. Great skiing. The good news is I saw LOTS of little girls, young girls and teenage girls. They were out skiing, smiling, sledding, snowboarding and tubing. They were having fun with themselves, with their brothers, with their fathers and their mothers. It was just awesome! I also took my kids window shopping (dear daughter said we didn't need any new windows) and saw several moms (and dads) with their little boys and girls, out shopping. Not for toy guns or tiaras. Just toodling around looking at art, mad-libs, candy-making, candles, wood bears and fun stuff. I was loving the gender mixed activites abound. Maybe it is the mountain air!

But alas, I came down in elevation. Just when I think my undies are in a bunch for nothing, my wonderful friend-at-blog Susan sent me this article. The article reviews a new ATROCIOUS website. A website for girls ages 9-16 where they win points for making their onscreen character the biggest bimbo of the bunch. Some AdamHenry is making millions off this crap. Promoting plastic surgery and eating disorders for girls.

Big sigh..... Do parents have any control over their children's choices on the internet? Do they give up or just don't care? This is scaring me.

OK, as some of you know, I emailed the management at Kmart. My email was basically a copy of my post Boo Hiss Awards. I was hoping they would either take me seriously or at least acknowledge that maybe there is a problem with the messages they are pimping, excuse me, marketing to young girls. Instead I got a form letter response. In part it says:

Thank you for your recent e-mail correspondence regarding your experience. Please be assured that we understand your frustration, and sincerely apologize for any inconvenience you may have experienced. We appreciate your business, and value you as a Kmarts customer. We certainly hope you will continue to make Kmart your choice for quality and value. Again, we thank you for taking the time to contact our office with your concern. Look for great bargains throughout the store and find Kmart exclusive brands like Martha Stewart Everyday, Thalia Sodi, Joe Boxer, Route 66 and Jaclyn Smith.

"Quality and value"? What a joke. I am just going to have to try harder. If anyone knows how to contact real people in Kmart, and not a customer-no-service person, please let me know.

And check out my new girls design. I think it rocks!

So I googled "good news for little girls"

2008-03-20T08:20:00.000-07:00

And I really wanted to be pleasantly surprised. But I was disappointed to say the least. These were the top 5 search results this morning:

#1 Hero dog bitten defending little girl- avoiding being mauled by a dog is good news I guess. But I wish the media would cover girls that save themselves.

#2 Reluctant hero who pulled girl from.... OK another little damsel in distress story.

#3 Little girls cuts hair in honor of grandpa..... This is good news for the girl? Her grandpa has cancer and she is 4 and "decides" to cut off her hair and donate to locks of love. Maybe I am too cynical, but me smells mommy-wants-a-press-release.

#4 Daddy's Little Girls (USA) 2007 Thinking this is not a movie that is good news for little girls since it is rated PG-13 for sexual content and violence.

#5 Good news for Pete Wenz fans- he is NOT dating Ashlee Simpson- don't even know where to start on this one.

Finally on page two, ranked number 17 in the "good news for girls" web search, I find a you tube video: Martial Arts Demonstration: Little Girl Fights Off Man and thoroughly enjoyed it!!

Hope to find more stories about girls with power, or at least some real good news for them.

Here is my power little girl last summer:

Happy Spring!!

Truckee River Kids

2008-03-18T22:22:00.000-07:00

Breaking it Down to the Numbers

2008-03-13T20:10:00.000-07:00

First I have to thank Cindy for telling me about the polka dot patch website. I love it!! It has great stuff. Gender neutral, but not blah stuff for little boys and girls. I especially enjoy these two designs: president not princess and doctor not diva.

So after cruising that website, I started to think of the basic facts. How many female doctors are practicing in the U.S.? A good estimate, I found out from Dr. Google, is over 400,000. Women today make up typically 50% of each medical school class. Women also make up the majority of vet school students and are approaching 50% for law students. When I was in dental school 18 years ago (my how time flies) women made up one-third of the class. I am sure it is much higher now. So the 400,000 is a conservative estimate of women doctors, since that number only includes female physicians and not vets, dentists, PhDs, etc. For a liberal estimate of divas in this country- I am going to say 100. So the docs have them beat hands (and lip glosses) down.
Women earn 35% of MBAs, yet only 2% of the CEOs of Fortune 500 companies are women. OK I am getting side-tracked. But there are at least 46 women who have been Presidents or Prime Ministers of actual countries. Plus all the women CEOs and business owners. I would say that number is much greater than the actual number of practicing princesses. So realistically and statistically speaking, we should be encouraging girls to hit the boardroom, the courtroom or the hospital and not the mall or the glass slipper store.
Wonder when the marketers will figure this out...................But they will probably ruin it with "Boardroom Barbie" with a pink briefcase, miniskirt and high heels. I hope at least Ken gets her the coffee.

That reminds me- years ago I found "Dentist Barbie" I bought her for posterity. She has flowing long blond hair which is perfect for getting in patients' mouths and/or getting suctioned by the high speed suction tube. She wears a short lab coat that says "Barbie DDS." I guess Dr. Barbie doesn't have a last name or much respect. To complete her professional ensemble: high heels. Did I mention she has no pants? I guess the short lab coat doubles as a micro miniskirt. I am sure she would be a very popular dentist, as it is next to impossible to sit chair-side with your legs together. It also shows off her great tan- because she also has time to lay out by the pool apparently.

I will pontificate on another day why so many talented and degreed women are not earning or careering like their male counterparts. A lot of people actually care and have been studying this phenomenon. Of course, motherhood and careerhood are very touchy subjects. I logged in 10 years as a dentist and 9 + years as a mother (some concurrently) and am now working from home. Am I living up to my potential? I think so, but some researchers don't.

But I digress, better get used to it. LOL. I do welcome feedback, thanks again Cindy. It is great to pull together positive influences for our little blooming presidents. Thanks for listening!

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

2008-03-12T05:04:00.001-07:00

Thank goodness he couldn't find the keys.

Some Random Information

2008-03-09T21:13:00.000-07:00

from The Daring Book for Girls by Andrea J. Buchanan and Miriam Peskowitz (see link for books for girls)

* The US Patent Act of 1790 allowed anyone to protect his or her invention with a patent. However, because in many states woman could not legally own property independent of their husbands, many women inventors didn't apply for patents, or only did so under their husbands' names.

* 1999 Eye Surgeon Dr. Patricia Bath becomes the first African American woman doctor to receive a patent for a medical invention: a device that removes cataracts with a fiber optic laser.

*In 1921, Bessie Coleman became the first woman to earn an international pilot's license, and the first black woman to earn an aviator's license. One of thirteen children, Coleman discovered airplanes after graduating from high school, but she couldn't find an aviation school that would teach a black woman to fly. She went to Paris, where she was able to train and earn her license.

* 2007 Eighteen-year-old Samantha Larson became the youngest American to climb Mt. Everest and also the youngest person to climb the Seven Summits.

Boo Hiss Awards

2008-03-07T08:09:00.000-08:00

As opposed to being pleasantly surprised by some non-offensive graphic tees at Kohl's, was not so lucky at K-mart. Found these graphics in the girls (size 4-16) section:
* Royalty Girls Team (with prerequisite crown)
* I heart Shopping
* Girls just want to have phone
* You Go Girl, and Keep Going (on a bra and panty set, size 6 because every kindergartner needs one of these)
* Rhinestone logos: Hershey's, Reese's, etc.
* Don't Just Stand There, Buy Me Something
* an entire new line of clothing called "Wcked"
* Danger- Girl With Bad Attitude
* Talking 24-7
* What do you mean NO?
* I love attention, just not yours
* Wake me up when class is over
* School is awesome, when it's closed
* Life is too short to do my homework
* I love to drive my teachers crazy
* What homework?
* Spoil me Rotten
* (row of lipsticks pictured, text written by a lipstick) 100% Girl
* Always a Glamour Girl

I found one shirt for my 4 year old: Peace, Love, Friends. There were a few "girls rock", horses and kitten shirts. But the overwhelming message for girls (ages 4 and up) was be a sassy, school-hating , little boy toy, shopping addict.

Does Kmart really hate girls this much? I am going to write the company and tell them how unhappy I am with these messages. I will let you know if they respond.

A friend told me about this article. Good news- girls still do like science and math:
article from yahoo

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

2008-03-05T06:32:00.001-08:00

And since a few of you are asking... My husband took our two boys and little miss fishing. The first minute she has her line in the water she said "Dad, I think I have a fish." Dear husband was in the middle of telling her she probably didn't, when she pulled it in. Not only that, she was the only one to catch anything that day!!
(She was very proud being a provider for the family. It was little, but delicious!)

Testing, testing, hopefully girls are testing...

2008-03-02T20:48:00.000-08:00

One day I happened to notice that in the after-school science class at my son's elementary school, there was only one girl out of 15 in the class. Where are the girls? Do their parents not ask them if they would like to take a fun science class? Or do they not want to participate even at this young age?

I also started noticing the messages that are everywhere for girls: Pretty Princess, Born to Shop, Jumping Bean Cheer Squad, Boy Crazy, Too Cool for School. What the heck is this? Why aren't the girls riding their bikes, having adventures, playing real sports (not shopping or being part of a jumping bunny squad), playing with rockets or enjoying school in movies or books, or even having this stated on a t-shirt? Why are there sassy-attitude products for 4-year old girls? Why don't they show girls dancing ballet instead of just saying "ballet princess?" And why don't they show girls singing for the joy of it instead of flirtatiously catching the attention of a boy?

Then on another fine day, I happened to pick up a book at the library called Packaging Girlhood: Rescuing Our Daughters from Marketer's Schemes by Sharon Lamb, Ed. D., and Lyn Mikel Brown, Ed.D. It really opened my eyes to the fact that we have probably taken two steps back for every step forward in the game of "girl power." I had just assumed progress has been made since I was a girl, some 30+ years ago. I was fascinated with science and math. I also loved soccer and football and didn't think there was anything wrong with "throwing like a girl." Is this girl today actively encouraged to pursue her interests? Is this girl any better off today with the power of media taking girlhood and turning it into a profit-driven cradle to grave game of girl consumerism?

I am hoping to preserve my now 4-year old daughter's creative and beautiful spirit. I am also hoping to get some feedback from other people on how to navigate this time of influence on our girls.

To start this blog off an a light note, I thought we could have a tee-shirt contest. I am really tuned into graphic tees for girls since I started some designing for girls myself. I have noticed some stores have really blah slogans for girls. And some stores do have some good messages. But I haven't found any stores out that completely exclude the pretty in pink-type t-shirt. I like pink, but I prefer girls to have more options than just to "be pretty." I thought I would post some t-shirt designs that I like. I hope some of you do the same. The shirts above are from Kohl's, a discount department store. I like how they are feminine, and attractive for young girls. And yet they are promoting sports, smarts and spirit in a fun way.

Thanks for viewing the Smart Girls Fun Blog!!