Tweens/Teen Girls: Be Happy. Be Healthy. Be Beautiful.You. (4 of 5)

Be Happy. Be Healthy. Be Beautiful. You.  Isn't that a great tagline?  I interpret that as saying, "You are beautiful just being you." It's the tagline on my next 'Food Made Fun' feature in this 5-part series focusing on education and empowering children at their level.  Many kid-friendly websites are geared toward elementary school age, so I wanted to highlight one that is geared more to adolescence.  GirlsHealth.gov contains great food and nutrition education, although it is more complex as our girls are more beautifully complex in nature. Girls are at risk for emotional eating that can begin at an early age, and the issues around relationships and peer pressures can take their toll.  This site may not be as "fun" as the other features, but it sure discusses many important issues related kids of this age in a way they can understand - including tween/teen girl's emotions, relationships and bullying. After all, isn't those some of the most important things to a young girl?  I remember back when I was 11-17 years old, life was all about school, yes, but emotionally it was about socializing and being liked.  These pressures impact a child's decision-making when it comes to their health - I know they did for me.  By now, you probably know how passionate I am about empowering children to make right decisions and this is definitely the case for our future women and mothers of the world.  I think of my own 6 year old daughter, Hannah.  My hope for her as her mother is that she has the confidence and knowledge to make her own decisions that grow her into a healthy and strong woman in mind, body and spirit.  It's one thing to have your mother teach you a healthy self-confidence that is the basis of every healthy decision (very important!).  But it's another thing to know that your girls have a good, reliable resource to turn to when they don't want to talk to Mom or Dad about their issues.

Girlshealth.gov (formerly 4Girls.gov) is a program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office on Women’s Health (OWH). It was developed in 2002 to fulfill the need for reliable, current health information on the Internet for adolescent girls, and to help improve the health of women from childhood to adolescence and into adulthood. Girlshealth.gov motivates girls to choose healthy behaviors using positive, supportive, and non-threatening messages. 

My series on cool food websites for kids could go on and on, but next week will be the last feature.  I am finding some great stuff out there for our children!  But to give our U.S. Government some great kudos, I wanted to let Mommy Dietitian readers know about other great sites they have put together to teach your children about health and wellness.

Other great U.S. government "Food Made Fun" websites for children include:
Small Step Kids: Kids can find out cool stuff about food and what it can do for them.
BAM! Body and Mind: Center for Disease Control's (CDC) kid-friendly site on explaining disease, health and wellness.
MyPyramid Kids: Of course we must include the US Department of Agriculture's MyPyramid Kids pages that have the Blast Off game to teach children about the MyPyramid way of eating.
Fish Kids: Environment Protection Agency's (EPA) site to educate children on fish, mercury and other chemicals that can contaminate our seafood supply.

If I missed one, I would love for you to share with me and the rest of the Mommy Dietitian readers.  I feel like I am leaving one out!  Anyway, check out the ones I listed with your children and feel free to send along any feedback as to how beneficial they are in your daily lives.  Let's do this parenting together!