The Gift of Failure Applies Far Beyond Parenting

Dec. 7, 2015: I've decided to freecycle the book I bought as my holiday gift to readers, so add your own "gift of failure" in the comments section (or tweet @ShapingYouth) for a chance to win it! … [Read more...]

2014: The Year Of Redefining Girly

Jan. 10, 2014 Even in just the last 5 years or so since the American Psychological Association Task Force reported about the harm of early sexualization and its impact on children (full 72pp APA study … [Read more...]

SureFire Girls: Life Literacy For Teens in a Power-Packed Conference

Oct. 8, 2013 As the parent of a teen graduating high school, spring was like a surreal montage of college tours, anticipation, excitement and questions swirling in my brain.Did I give her enough savvy … [Read more...]

Brave Girls Want To Put Media On A Different Frequency!

Oct. 10, 2013 Update: At the end is a newly minted press release/activities update, and this great post by Adios Barbie crams a lot into a small package involving some of the partner organization … [Read more...]

Brave Girls Want: A Movement, Not a Moment.

Sept. 11, 2013 Grand Finale Tally for IndieGoGo campaign ended at 11:59PT: $26,673 Sept. 9, 2013 Today marks the triumph of a grassroots groundswell over colossal corporate branding, with the … [Read more...]

“Brave Girls Want” Marissa Mayer to Lead, Not Follow

Aug. 22, 2013 Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer has posed a vast public health problem in the latest edition of Vogue……Literally and figuratively.That can be a good thing if it helps ignite a media conversation … [Read more...]

Brave Girls Want: Change. That’s Not Merida, Disney. Be Brave and Fix It

June 11, 2013 Update: Brave Girls Want.com is now live! Use the hashtag #BraveGirlsWant on Twitter and “like” the new Facebook site to add your voice and views on the impact of media and marketing … [Read more...]

Deconstructing Spongebob, Pt2: A Preschool Parenting Lens

Sept. 20, 2011 In part one, the prelude to this post, I tried to frame the notion of critical thinking skills as a sphere to hold up to the light and rotate slowly instead of banging out opinions in … [Read more...]

Deconstructing Spongebob: Reasoning, Research, & Critical Thinking

Sept. 19, 2011 “So, Amy, whose side are you on with the pundits talking and the press reporting about the new University of Virginia Spongebob research?” Whaaaa? Sides? Really? That's cartoonish, … [Read more...]