Tweens at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver

The Winter Olympics close today, and our tweens have enjoyed watching so much of it. Their favorites include Women's and Men's Snowboarding events, Ice Dancing, and the USA-Canada Hockey game going on right now. We have red-white-and-blue Jell-O stars chilling in the fridge now, and during the commercial breaks, we've been learning about how tweens have been involved in these Olympic games:

Sweeping up during Figure Skating: According to the Wall Street Journal, rarely has Vancouver seen such competition for litter collection: Vancouver chose 30 local children from among 135 who applied to be "flower sweepers." They dart onto the ice between performances, gracefully plucking up the debris in under two minutes, and then placing it into bags to hand over to the athletes.  Skaters competing here have been pelted with hundreds of items—plush hearts, framed photographs of fans and even plastic toy potatoes. In the audition, the kids had to prove they had sufficient speed, as well as the ability to stop on a dime. Most of the selected kids are tween-age, and it's not all hard work: the kids have witnessed the best skating in the world from an unparalleled vantage point: center ice - only judges and coaches have better seats. As an added benefit, they receive uniform/costumes with the Vancouver Olympics logo, and the girls outfits are bedazzled with over 8000 sequins.

Tween reporter covers the Games: Our tweens have been avidly following the Time For Kids reporter Brennan LaBrie's coverage of the Olympics. At eleven years of age, Brennan is the youngest reporter to cover the games. He's been working in news for several years before becoming a TFK reporter - he ran a kid newspaper in his hometown in Washington State. His updates on Twitter have been a lot of fun to read - you can follow him at www.twitter.com/kidreporter

Check out the wunderkid's interview with Gold Medalist Apolo Ohno:



Go USA!

Photo credit: European Pressphoto Agency

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American Tweens Send 1000+ Text Messages Every Month

We just read a study from NielsenWire that found that American tweens send 1,146 text messages every month. That's four SMS every hour that they are not in school. That's a lot than we would have thought, and our tweens have mobile phones. Hmm . . . better switch to that unlimited text plan.

Kajeet, a mobile phone service developed for kids (full disclosure: Verizon Wireless is our mobile phone service provider), recently published guidelines for responsible cell phone use for tweens. Among the strategies listed, we loved their tip about having the phones charge overnight in a location OTHER than their rooms to discourage unsupervised, late night texting).

Rules in our family regarding mobile phone use include the following:

• Phones are forbidden at the dining table (mind you, this rule is toughest for the parents to follow at times)
• Phones must be turned off during the school day
• The girls may not answer a call from a number they don't recognize; we screen
• Tweens are fully aware that mom reviews their texts on their phone at random

Do your tweens have mobile phones? Do they practice safe text-messaging? Certainly texting helps tweens stay in touch with their friends and family, but with cyber-bullying on the rise, are they aware of how to handle themselves using this medium?

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It's Time for the Annual Peeps Diorama Contest at the Washington Post!

Continuing our Easter theme from earlier this week, the Annual Peeps Diorama contest sponsored by the Washington Post is now open! Entries are due by March 1 (so you only have this weekend to do this project!), so get crafting.  On the Washington Post contest page you can see a gallery of past submission to get inspired, but we think a tween-theme should be easy: what about a Jonas Brothers concert scene (complete with adoring fans)? Or Justin Bieber serenading a lucky girl? What about the First Family at the White House (patriotic Peeps anyone?)?

Let your imagination go wild and send us pics of your entries! We'll post them all here, and we'll run our very first contest: readers can vote for their favorite Peeps entry. The winner shall receive a Peeps chocolate fountain party from Treats by Twixt! We'll follow the same rules as the Washington Post, but with one change: tweens only! All entries must be submitted by kids between the ages of 7 through 12. Parental help is okay, but this has to be YOUR work. Have fun!

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Tween Jams On Stage with John Mayer

Austin Christy carried a poster into the John Mayer concert in Philadelphia this week that said, "Can I play 'Belief' with you?"

The mega star responded by inviting the sixth grader on stage and handing him a guitar.

Check out the video below:



Austin said after the show, "I didn't believe it was happening." He left the concert with John Mayer's guitar personally inscribed: "To Austin, You rock. Keep playing. See you at your show."

How cool is that?!?!

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Love This! LeSportSac Newest Line is Called Snackville

We are loving this ADORABLE line of totes from LeSportSac called Snackville. It's designed by Artist in Residence Katharina Leuzinger and is sort of a cross between tokidoki (an earlier LeSportSac collaboration) and Hello Kitty - how cute is that?!? This collection is only around for a limited time, and once they're gone, they're gone - anyone need a new duffle bag for camp?

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Girl Scout Cookies and Business Savvy for Tweens

Girl Scout Cookie season is upon us as evidenced by cookie booths staffed with smiling faces in front of grocery stores, book stores, and neighborhood coffee shops throughout the country. (Full disclosure, MsTwixt leads three Girl Scout troops.) But Girl Scout Cookies are much more than tasty treats - the process of selling them teaches business skills to thousands of tweens - how to set goals, manage money, be courageous (when was the last time you went door to door to talk to a stranger about supporting an organization?), plan an event, and more.

Here's a great, quick (a minute and a half long) video about what a Girl Scout Cookie can do:



So while cookies are, to quote Cookie Monster, "a sometimes food", be sure to make room in your heart and wallet to support a girl the next time you see that cookie booth.

What's your favorite Girl Scout cookie flavor? Mine are the Samoas.

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World Premiere of Alice in Wonderland Today - You Can See It on Facebook!

Disney's newest film, Alice in Wonderland, has its World Premiere in London today. Even if you are stuck this side of the pond, you can still see the event and red carpet festivities via the movie's Facebook page at 12:30pm EST. (And while you're there, please become a fan of the Twixt Facebook page)

The movie opens State-side March 5th. We're not sure yet if it's appropriate for tweens - our friends at Common Sense Media say it'll be "more mature magic". It's rated PG, and the story line has been adapted from the original book to portray Alice as a strong, independent young woman. All good stuff, but we hear that some scenes may be a bit too intense for the younger set. But we are excited to see that one of our favorite actors, Anne Hathaway is in it!

Let us know what you think if you see it - post your comments below!

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Mrs Obama on Role-Modeling Fitness for Tweens

We're huge fans of First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move campaign to battle childhood obesity and marvel at her multi-faceted campaign (the White House Kitchen Garden and White House mentoring program to name just two). But what really made us smile this morning was reading this quote in the Washington Post:

"Because of my mother, I feel more comfortable saying, 'You're going to stay with Dad and I'm going to the gym.' " One woman's regret becomes a first lady's call for action.

Wow.

The entire article is about the emotions behind her Let's Move initiative, and she talks about her own childhood at length. The First Lady candidly shares that her own parents "sacrificed everything for their children" - to the point of her mother (Marian Robinson) not taking care of her own needs by investing in herself, going to the hairdresser, working out, etc. "But she will even tell me today that she wouldn't want me to do that for my girls," the first lady says. "Fortunately, I had a mother who taught me through her own failings and could admit, 'This is what I would have done differently.' And I think because of that honesty, her openness, I'm more -- I feel more confident about showing my girls now that you invest in yourself."

This initiative had all the right things going for it in the first place - but we parents of tween girls have yet another proof point to get our own bodies in gear and model good habits, self-preservation, life balance and healthy living for our own daughters.

All the right stuff. Now excuse me, I'm finally going on that walk.

(Photo by Marvin Joseph of the Washington Post)

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Kids Helping Kids: Project Haiti

The rebuilding and devastation in the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti continues, and a youth volunteer organization, Kidz Helping Kids, is throwing a benefit called Project Haiti to help orphans in that country.

The event will be on February 28th in Hollywood, CA (sounds like an under-21 club event, kind of like the scene in Starstruck) and features a concert with Alyson Stoner (Camp Rock), David Henrie (Wizards of Waverly Place), Nathan Kress (iCarly), and Lindsay Taylor (School Gyrls). 100% of the proceeds are going to God's Littlest Angels Orphanage in Haiti, and the organization is seeking donations for the silent auction and raffle. Twixt has made a donation since we cannot be in L.A. for event, and we're so proud to support a tween-sponsored and organized event.

We are in awe of the amazing tween volunteer efforts that have sprung up in the wake of this tragedy: JONAS and Starstruck star Chelsea Staub organized Harmonies For Haiti, Nick created a website in record time that helps kids identify age-appropriate fundraising ideas, organizations to support, and ways to help the people of Haiti, and Selena Gomez is using her bully pulpit as UNICEF's Ambassador to raise awareness and raise funds. Go tweens!

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Really Cool Site to Help Tweens Organize a Volunteer Project

We stumbled upon this very cool site that helps kids to plan and run a book drive for kids in need. What makes this organization different is that everything is turn-key - the how-to's are spelled out on the site, the non-profit has already forged a relationship with Barnes and Noble to host such events, and everything is broken down into manageable tasks.

The organization is called Milk and Bookies (how cute is that name?!), and they've been at this since 2004. Their mission is to develop peer-based philanthropy projects to get kids involved in community service. We think they are the bomb!

Here's how it works: kids organize a milk and cookies event at a local bookstore and invite everyone to come. Guests are provided the opportunity to select, purchase and inscribe books that are then donated to their peers who do not have access to books of their own.
The fun-filled events feature music, story time and, of course, milk and cookies.


They have a program that is specially for older kids called the M+B Class Project that would be perfect for tweens. And with Disney's special incentive of a free day of park admission in exchange for a day of service, there's all the more reason to put on an event.

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