Quote Originally Posted by tulip View Post
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