Billy Ray Cyrus Causes Achy Breaky Heartache in Tween Fans

Poor Miley. Another nice young girl being led through the world by idiot parents in the entertainment biz. Any responsible parent with any honest concern for their daughter would not leave their child unattended at photo shoot, by a famous photographer known for unusual and often provocative photos. One news report said the parents left the shoot before the half naked pic was taken, but her grandmother and a teacher were there. Are they stupid too. If a photographer wants to take an artsy suggestive half nude pic of a 15 year old child star............#1 NO - she's too young ...................AND #2 The Media , Vanity Fair, will exploit her to sell mags $$$$$(and they did), so DOUBLE NO!!

And didn't they see the pics before publication? You bet they did! Who in their right mind would not be able to predict the outrage of her fans - innocent tweens. Again the message to tweens that nudity and sexualizing kids is OK. Calling all parents............explain to your upset kids AGAIN, how this is so wrong for a young girl, and how people make mistakes.

AND what is with the picture of Miley with her Dad - no cozy loving father & daughter pose here. They look estranged, like they have had a fight. Sorry Ms. Leibovitz you get an "F" from me on this project. Actually this picture was foreshadowing of the day after vanity fair hit the stands! She should be at odds with her Dad, He truly let her down by not protecting her from the selfish money grubbing media. I encourage everyone to tell him he screwed up and I hope his "achy breaky heart" feels like S_ _ _ !

Pretty Up the Bunny - Part Two

"Tomorrow" got away from me,while I was visiting other blogs and chatting away - It's so much fun . Mid-Century Modern Moms is a new favorite. Stay away if you don't want to know how crazy the home gets with teenagers in it. Here's part two of the bunny craft.............

Dress a Bunny ( Plushie of course)

Time for a new craft video and your tween will love this one. She will get to chose fabric and trims and design an oufit for her favorite stuffed bunny, monkey or doll. Be sure to let her make all the color choices and do the mixing and matching HERSELF. The fun and playing here is the joy and sharing of time together .......... NOT producing a perfect looking finished project. Mom, you can design one yourself if you want a "pretty perfect bunny" to add to next years Easter decor. Due to the 10 min. limit on youtube this project required a Part One- making the dress and Part Two-decorating the dress, headband and shoes. Part Two will be up tomorrow.

Be sure to give your tween lots of compliments on her project, even if it's not exactly how you would do it. Compliments on a project like this build self confidence and self esteem.

Just relaxing and playing with your kids is so much fun and so important. They need to have unstructured unrushed free time with you. AND, YOU NEED unrushed play time too - it's a great stress buster for busy Moms. As kids turn into tweens and teens their play time can develop into mutually shared activities with parents that are more sophisticated both mentally and physically such as art projects, games and sports. Crafts that are keepsakes and not just paper and glue items for the frig door are a perfect example.

My daughter loved crafts as a tween and I must admit sometimes turned out a project that was cuter and jazzier than mine! My son I took to the raquetball court to "teach" him thebasics of the game and he whooped my butt the first time!!



Supplies:
Critter
fabric (jersey,knit,fleece etc. non fraying)
measuring tape,
sissors,
pencil or chalk marker
trims (flowers, ribbon, buttons,etc.
fun foam

And of Course Your GOGO GLUE GUN ..............HAVE FUN!!!!!!!!!

The Power of the Pissed Off Parents of Tweens

I refer you to a post about Abercrombie and Fitch donating $10 million to a childrens hospital to get their name on the building. So Sioux Me. Be sure to read all the posts' comments ( maybe 10) and learn that the hospital ,"due to 3,000 peoples complaints" has reconsidered naming the ER after the questionable company. Thank goodness big corporations (in this case a hospital) can be pressured by negative media attention brought on by Moms writing and complaining, to reconsider a dumb decision. Why couldn't they have told them "NO" in the first place? Are they that desparate for donations? Won't another organization that is "pro" healthy role models and clothing step up with some $$$? Will I add my usual sarcastic humor to this post....................NO! this is serious business and our letters accomplished a goal. Go add your letter to the 3,000- the more the better. Mail Campaign

Momma Rock's Rules For Tweens

Chris Rocks' Mom who has parented 17 kids ( her own plus many foster children) has written a book and is making the rounds on the talk shows. It sounds great! and she is pretty funny herself, and she said Chris was not funny at all as a kid. Apparently he began to be funny on his front porch stoop mimicking his mother!! Not good, I would imagine, when Mom is a tough disciplinarian. But how else could you raise 17 kids and not be a beat up , half empty punching bag when it was over-- now she's a grandma. We both agree on that --pure FUN!!!

Anyway she wavered my thinking on my one HARD FAST RULE that my tweens LOVED to argue with me about ------" NO TV IN THE BEDROOMS" (bedrooms of kids that is..............I finished school in the top 50 of a class of 700 and I earned my TV in my bedroom......so don't go there) TV in the bedrooms allows a kid to be too isolated from the family and lets them surf through tons of garbage content and there's a ton of garbage on TV.

Anyway she said that certain kids could have a TV in their room..............."who would that be ?" asked Whoopee...........Kids who finished their homework first, only watched decent content and shut it of at a predetermined time set by the parent.

On what planet , and in what galaxy far far away do they bioengineer tweens like this? I've never met a kid who could meet these qualifications.........NEVER!!! As soon as they get old enough...............say 11 or 12 ,to understand the rules they move into the sneakiest years - when the lying begins. Lots of little lies to avoid getting yelled at -- they all do it. It's called keeping the Mom off my back.

Oh I know who would qualify for the TV in the bedroom ...............Steve Erkel ! Can you think of any others????

Men Ugh !!! & #%&@*???

Men just DO NOT GET IT !!! It is so important to me to reach as many Moms of tweens as possible with my blog, and share resources with them to help their daughters be allowed to just "BE THEMSELVES". To focus on their self development as bright young women and not obsess on their physical appearance and the pressures of the mass media marketing frenzy. As I was talking to my DH (and today I hesitate with that "D") he was nodding and I thought 'listening" to my rant about the 77,000 ads that have bombarded all the little unsuspecting 12 year old girls, and the mental health issues of our teen girls. Finally I paused to breathe some, and he had absolutely no comment, nada, nothing, zilch. ....................I just stared at him for about 20 seconds............... I said "Don't you find this so annoying?" ( We have a daughter!) Him,"Huh?"...................................................His brain was not even in the room with me. I was pissed!!

"If Kyle Busch had a boil on his ass and couldn't drive in the race this Sunday, you would talk about that for a solid 45 min. Wouldn't You ???!!!! But my life's interest and passion - No"

He said "Yep" That's all, just "Yep" Then we both laughed. Him because he thought my comment was funny. I laughed because............ Men are so dense about so many important things and why do we keep them around ??? It 's a good thing men have a few good uses. LOL

Three Cheers for a Bar of Soap !

I finally went to the Dove website and viewed all the films and played with the interactive stuff. I am going to buy their products from now on ! They are" right on" the whole point I'm yelling about on my blog :

" WE HAVE TO STOP THE CONSTANT MESSAGE TO OUR GIRLS THAT THEY ARE NOT GOOD ENOUGH !!"

Please go to this site and let your girls play with the programs. This will start lots of chat between the two of you and give you a chance to bond over common girl worries and problems and answers --PERFECT ! Here's my favorite video............Make sure you turn off my music player first ( far right and down,down,down)

That little girl is so innocent. I read an article that stated by the age of 12, girls have seen 77,000 commercials from the beauty industry telling them they must improve their appearance. I find it sickening. Don't get me wrong................. Hey, I wear a little makeup, I color my grey hair and I gel my frizzy wild hair but this I feel falls under the category of grooming. I would not want to stop my grooming routine for fear of causing a shock to my friends and hubby. For young girls to believe they have multiple serious flaws and resort to behaviors such as anorexia, bulimia, depression, skipping school, cutting and suicide is just horrific ! Go to the Dove site and use this tool as one way to build your daughters self image.