Tween-age Health, Fitness, Beauty Magazine?

[channlluv]

Hi, ladies,

I'm coming to you all because there are so many healthy, well-rounded young women on this board. My 12-year-old daughter mentioned tonight that she might want to try makeup soon because her hormones might be kicking in. Yes, she uses phrases like that.

I was wondering if there are any magazines that cater to tween-age girls on the very cusp of womanhood. I think Seventeen would be too mature for her. She still thinks kissing in movies and TV shows is gross. She's getting anxious about her period and has been asking me about tampons and stuff. We have very open, honest talks about the physical aspects of growing up, but I'm sort of a fogey when it comes to letting her explore the emotional envelope here.

Those of you just out of your teens, help me out here. I want her to get good guidance through this stage. She's athletic and thoughtful and almost prudish when it comes to boys and such. She does not have much respect for "girly girls" who squeal when a ball comes hurtling at them in the gaga pit. She's stood up to friends in her circle who were bullying another friend -- she even took one of them to the principal's office. She's a rule-enforcer. I keep thinking one day she'll make a really great ACLU lawyer.

I want a magazine for her that respects her intelligence, but will guide her in stuff like makeup, healthy body image, and navigating middle school politics. Like Self, but for young teens. Can anyone recommend a magazine for her?

Thank you!

Roxy

[jdubble]

I don't have a tween, or a daughter, but I've heard good things about New Moon Girls from friends that do. Also Kiki looks like it could be interesting.

Ah, if only Sassy were still around. That was the best darn magazine ever.

[channlluv]

Thanks, jdubble. Wow, I wish I'd had New Moon when I was a girl. Check out their sample issue: http://www.newmoon.com/magazine/samp...-June-2010.pdf.

I found these two, too:

http://www.girlzone.com/

http://www.discoverygirls.com/

This is a great start.

Thank you!

Roxy

[NbyNW]

Roxy, I don't know of any magazines that fit what you're looking for, but just wanted to say that your daughter sounds like an awesome kid, and she's lucky to have your guidance.

Maybe another approach would be to look for magazines that are specific to her interests. For example, if SI for Women was still in publication, I'd recommend it. Amid ads for cosmetics and fashion (and women-specific sports equipment!), it also had articles about women who worked hard to achieve their goals, some of them even as a team! If there is a specific sport that she likes, there is probably a magazine for it. If she is interested in social justice issues, there are many magazines that focus on a range of those issues. I don't think they need to be age-specific. Nurturing her interests will go a long way towards building her self-confidence in the long term.

As for makeup -- when I was about that age my mother took me to a dept. store makeup counter to help me get ready for a piano recital. I was too clueless and awkward to figure it out through magazines (I had Sassy too. Didn't help ). It was invaluable to have someone show me how to apply it, and to walk away with stuff that worked for my complexion, that I was comfortable wearing. I don't think experimenting with drug store brands would have saved money at that stage, since I had no idea what I was doing with blending and colors and probably would have wasted a lot of money buying stuff that didn't work for me.

[tulip]

Roxy, my niece is 13 going on 26...I've given her a couple of really good American Girl books that she has liked and found useful. I noticed there is an American Girl magazine that has NO ADS and all sorts of interesting-looking topics. I found some info on wiki for you:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America...%28magazine%29

Here's some info about the books:
http://www.americangirl.com/corp/cor...on=about&id=16

I really appreciate their straightforward yet entertaining way of dealing with issues that we might not think are so important any more. But of course, remember when those things loomed huge in our lives.

My parents did not let me wear makeup until I was 15. Big Mistake. I would go in the bathroom first thing at school and smear on blue eyeshadow. I looked terrible! I would have much preferred to have gone to a department store with my mother or stepmother and gotten some decent products that were appropriate, and a lesson in proper application.

[tulip]

Here's the list of books. I gave my niece the Smart Girl's Guide to Money and the Smart Girl's Guide to Starting Middle School. I wish I had books like that way back when.

http://store.americangirl.com/agshop...id/246/uid/137

[channlluv]

Here's the list of books. I gave my niece the Smart Girl's Guide to Money and the Smart Girl's Guide to Starting Middle School. I wish I had books like that way back when.

http://store.americangirl.com/agshop...id/246/uid/137

I got this very series for her for Christmas. It's excellent, and she actually reads them (as opposed to the un-cracked novels collecting dust on her shelf - some of them are even signed). The Guide to Money is the one that's most frequently in her hands these days, and she's always making signs to sell beaded key chains and bracelets that she's made (from another kit she got for Christmas), and babysitting. Only there's no place for her to go to sell these things and we don't know anyone with very young children except for a neighbor two doors down, and I doubt they remember my name.

Plus, she's only 12. I didn't start babysitting until I was 16.

I subscribed to American Girl magazine for her a year or so ago. She read it, but didn't rave over it. I'm still waiting for her to get back to me on the others.

I'll see if she'd like to go to a real makeup counter to try out some makeup. I could use that myself. I've never done it, either.

As far as my parenting skills, thank you for the compliments, but I'm just trying to save her from the traumatic, embarrassing events of my own childhood. My mother referred to my girly bits as "down there," and our "talk" consisted of her coming into my room and saying, "You don't have any questions about, you know, down there, do you?"

Um, no. Not especially. And to this day I have questions. Thank goodness for Andrew Weil and Christianne Northrup.

Thank you all so much for the caring support.

Roxy

[shootingstar]

I come from a heavily sister dominant family.....4 sisters, 1 brother.

We were allowed to wear face makeup around 14 or up. But the eye makeup thing was when we started to earn our own money in late teens.

REally, the cost factor kept us at bay: My parents just couldn't afford it. The focus was shifted to us learning how to sew...so we could be fashionable like our friends.

So in the interim, we experiemented more with nail polish..which was longer lasting anyway and lipstick.

Roxy: Does she wear earrings? Maybe focus on that....

I would agree that every girl needs to experiment to figure out her womanly identity. If you met anyone myself or sisters ..now, none of us wear much make-up. We never really had super big interest.

However we read Seventeen, Glamour, ..etc. borrowed from library. As well as pile of other books we wanted to read of which alot was adult fiction.

[Bike Chick]

My parents did not let me wear makeup until I was 15. Big Mistake. I would go in the bathroom first thing at school and smear on blue eyeshadow. I looked terrible! I would have much preferred to have gone to a department store with my mother or stepmother and gotten some decent products that were appropriate, and a lesson in proper application.

I agree, Tulip! My mother wouldn't let me wear makeup or do other things the rest of the girls were doing. Things I so desperately was wanting to try. I remember feeling like she didn't want me to grow up and it was a struggle all through adolescence. All the girls were shaving their legs in jr. high but my mother refused to let me do it. It was embarrassing for me and I remember the fights we had about it---and that was 40 years ago. Roxy, you are lucky to have such a special daughter and she is lucky to have you for a mom. Embrace these years and enjoy them with her.

[limewave]

My mom sold Mary Kay products and yet never showed me how to apply make up. I too wish she would have taken me to a dept store or salon to learn how to do it. It's on my list of "must-do's" with my daughter as she grows up.