Celebrating the Chinese Year of the Dragon With Tweens

We love celebrating Chinese New Year with our tweens - Washington always has a great parade in Chinatown, and it's one of the most colorful holidays to watch (the dragon dance is always a big hit). To help us ring in 2012 as the Year of the Dragon, we asked our very crafty, very creative friends at Club Chica Circle to share a dragon-themed craft with our tweens - and boy, did they deliver! Our tweens have dubbed this as "way cool", and we think yours will too.

Today kicks off the Chinese New Year for 2012, and this is the year of the dragon. But what does that mean? The dragon is an especially powerful and important symbol in Chinese culture. Those born in the year of the dragon are said to be powerful, artistic, intuitive, and lucky.

Chinese New Year is celebrated for 15 days in the Chinese calendar, and is the longest and most important celebration in the Chinese culture.

There are many customs and traditions associated with Chinese New Year celebrations. For instance, it is traditional to give red envelopes filled with money to wish good luck, wealth, or happiness. The color red is an especially regarded color and symbolizes luck in the Chinese culture.

The dragon dance is one of the most colorful and exciting events associated with Chinese New Year where dancers hold up dragon costumes and perform in parades and New Year's celebrations. The Chinese New Year dragon dance represents the bringing of good luck and success in the new year.

And on the 15th day, there is traditionally a red lantern celebration or festival where red lanterns are meant to decorate homes, storefronts, and town centers. The Lantern Festival signifies the end of the New Year and lanterns are hung as a symbol of good fortune and prosperity.

In honor of the year of the dragon, I crafted a dragon bracelet perfect for any tween.

Here is what you will need:
Red rickrack ribbon
Heart shaped beads (I used 12 - 6 red and 6 orange)
Thick orange foam (about 5mm thick)
Scissors
Embroidery thread and needle
Googly eyes
Glue
White and black puffy paint

First cut about 12" of rickrack ribbon, and string heart shaped beads on. I alternated red and orange colored beads and made sure they were all going the same direction. The heart shape along the with waviness of the rick rack is a great way to represent the scales of the dragon. Chinese dragons can be very colorful, so don't be afraid to use other colors. Also, because the rick rack is wavy is a great way to keep the beads in place.

On the end where the bottom of the heart shaped beads are facing leave about 1 1/2" and knot the end (this will become the tough of the dragon). On the other end, make sure to leave about 4" of rickrack and knot a loop at the end (this will become the tail and will wrap around the neck of the dragon to create a bracelet).

Cut two pieces of rickrack about 3 inches long. Tie each along each end leaving 2 beads on the outside of each end. This will be the feet of the dragon.

Now, using your scissors, cut two pieces of thick foam about 1" x 3/4" and 3/4" x 3/4". These pieces will create the head and mouth of the dragon with the larger piece being the top of the head. With an embroidery needle and colored thread to match the foam, knot off one end and push the need through the top of the head and connecting it through the smaller piece of foam and all the way through. Then push your needle back through the other side of the smaller piece, up through the bigger piece, connecting the two pieces on one end. Pull through and knot at the end to make tight. Don't worry the knots will be hidden with the googly eyes glued on top.

Glue two googly eyes on top of the bigger piece of foam on top of the embroidery thread knots. Let dry.

With white puffy paint, draw on white triangles on either side of the head for teeth. With black puffy paint, draw on black half circles for nostrils on top of the head. Let dry.

Once the head is completely dry, string the knotted end of the bracelet through the stitched end of the head until the knot sits securely in the middle of the mouth. Trim the rick rack tongue if necessary.

To attach the bracelet, carefully wrap the looped tail end around the dragon head while on your wrist. Make one for yourself of give as a Chinese New Year's gift to a friend!

We hope the year of the dragon brings you all the best of luck and good fortune, whatever culture you are. Happy New Year!

Are you a member of Club Chica Circle yet? You and your tween should be - it's free, fun and fabulous!

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Fantastic Interview With Fashion Blogger Tavi (and Look at Her Room!)

Tween Teen fashion blogger and editor-in-chief (of Rookie Mag) Tavi Gevinson recently did a televised interview with the BBC. It is fascinating to hear her in speak about how she started in fashion and with writing and her take on being the youngest editor-in-chief on the planet. The tour of her room is also incredibly fun - it features a loft bed, vinyl records (SO retro), and the general chaos that comes with a girl's life (glitter, photos, stickers, jewelry, momentos, and the like).

We knew the girl could write - now we can all hear how well spoken she is too.  Perfect timing: New York Fashion Week starts February 9, 2012!

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Organizing Tweens in 2012

We like to think of the entire month of January as resolution month - it take the pressure off of having to document all of our resolutions on New Year's Day. As we put our list for 2012 together, we're reminded of our list from 2011. So far, so good.

For us, starting the new year means starting with a new calendar. We use the big desk-blotter size ones and tape the current month to the fridge. The tweens love, love, love the Hello Kitty calendar stickers for marking big dates (birthdays, field trips, concerts, etc.), but alas those are no more. 

Typically we just use whatever calendar is at the office supply store (read, "BORing, Mom), so this year we resolved to look around to find a more colorful one.  Below are our faves:

Designer Erin Condren is GIFTED with color. She makes a personalized family calendar. $30 at ErinCondren.com

Dylan's Candy Bar has a fun wall calendar - it's half off for $7.47 on her website

Hello Kitty calendars no longer come with stickers, but SeeJaneWork has these calendar stickers that look hip (price unknown; they're on back order).

Kate Spade has a great idea for the little things - this wall calendar is full of fun photographic details. $20 with free shipping from KateSpade.com

Another very, very colorful calendar from Lilly Pulitzer - $24.50 online

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A Lesson For Tweens: Umm, No - I'm Pretty Sure It's Fotoshop

January is for resolutions, and for many this includes renewed efforts to work out, look good, etc. This video comes at an opportune time as our tweens (and everyone else) see the magazine covers everywhere this month. As the video's creator says, "This commercial isn't real,  neither are society's standards of beauty." Our YouTube-obsessed tweens gave it their stamp of cool.


 


Fotoshop by Adobé from Jesse Rosten on Vimeo.

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First Tweens Malia and Sasha Obama Release Sea Turtles into the Wild

The Obama family is back in the President's home state of Hawaii for their annual Christmas break. This year, First Tweens Malia and Sasha Obama got to do a bit of real-life marine biology on their holiday: the girls released four green sea turtles into the wild at Sea Life Park, a marine sanctuary in Oahu that is the only place in the U.S. that raises green sea turtles in captivity. The 18-month old turtles were born at Sea Life Park and are released into the bay as part of program to re-populate this threatened species.

Photo credit: AP

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New Year's Eve and Tweens

We love, love, love celebrating New Year's Eve and planning a party with our tweens is half of the fun. Here's a link to an earlier post with some party planning ideas including decorations, food, and drink suggestions.

This year we're adding surprise balls to the mix - check out this video from Kate Spade New York showing how fun these are:


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New Online Cooking Show For Tweens: Food Star by SweetyHigh

Sweety High is an online social networking community for tweens and tweens. Like the ones before it (Everloop, Imbee, etc.), the site is COPPA-compliant and heavily monitored. What makes this social network different from the others out there is that they create online shows using girls from their network. "Food Star" is one such show: it features a sister duo of Sophie and Emily Everhard who were members of Sweety High.

Our tweens seem to watch Food Network and Cupcake Wars as much as Disney Channel, so it's not surprising that media companies are catching on to the tween-foodie market. "Food Star" features the sisters cooking recipes with tween and teenage celebrities; it's sort of a mash-up between a talk show (think "Ellen") and "Rachel Ray". I especially love that the episodes include kitchen safety tips in addition to the recipes, and that the stars of the show are two real-life kids.

One must be a member of Sweety High to view any content (part of the site's safety protocols), and membership is free. Parents are also part of the process: parental permission is required to register for the site, and there's also a group of parents serving as an advisory board to the site's management.

Our tweens loved it - let us know what yours thought of the new show!

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About First Tween Sasha Obama's Dress From the Official Portrait

We've just learned that the pretty fuchsia and silver dress worn by First Tween Sasha Obama in the Obama Family Official Portrait is designed by BB Dakota, a mother-daughter design company. This dress is from a women's line, so it's not in children's sizes (and as we know, tweens come in all shapes and sizes - some older tweens are wearing youth sizes 12 and 14 while others are in womens or petites). It's available online (and on sale!) for $55. We certain this will be a popular choice for New Year's Parties among tweens.

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Communicating With Tweens

We recently came across a rather harshly-worded article about communication between parents and children. While the author focused mainly on communicating with young children and the manifestations of those behaviors in later years, we felt that one line particular rang true when communicating with tweens, "In the parent/child relationship, communication is entirely…hear this…ENTIRELY the responsibility of the parent."

Personally, this was a great reminder for us especially during the holiday season (which, let's face it,  can be a stressful time of year with all the comings and goings and inter-generational family gatherings). It was sort of a wake-up call to remind us that as mature as our tweens can appear (especially in contrast to younger siblings), at times we place undue burden on them to articulate their needs and feelings. They're more capable of it than school and toddler-age kids, of course, but they're also still learning how and when to speak their mind - or even to sort through their feelings to figure out how they feel. Tween girls can be a moody bunch with a sullen long face in the morning that morphs seemingly instantly to a shiny happy face by lunch. In the abstract, we parents can remember that they're still sorting through who they are and cut them that slack, but in the day-to-day, I know that I lose sight of it.

We've written before about those teachable moments and life lessons that our tweens learn from parents' behaviors and responses, and while the seeds of communication were most certainly sown at a very young age, behaviors are still malleable in the tween years. Thank heavens for that. We hope that you and your tweens have a happy, healthy, and calm holiday season.

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Michelle on Obama on Facebook: "Why would we want to have a whole bunch of people who we don't know knowing our business? That doesn't make much sense."

Honestly, this is refreshing to hear from a fellow parent of tween girls. In the Obama family's only print interview of the season, People magazine asked them about their social networking and television usage. First Lady Michelle Obama says of their decision NOT to let First Tweens Malia and Sasha Obama use Facebook, "Why would we want to have a whole bunch of people who we don't know knowing our business? That doesn't make much sense."

Their tweens are young yet, and Facebook's stated policy is that a user must be 13 or older - but that hasn't stopped millions of tweens from actively using Facebook.

With the winter break upon us, tweens will be online in droves - here are our tips for keeping your tween safe online this season:

Our House Rules for Digitally Literate Girls:

(You can read the full interview with Gayle Trotter that ran in the Alliance for Women in Media "Special Report on Digital Literacy for Women and Girls" here.)

Gayle: How can you let girls become digitally proficient without being exposed to the trash on the Internet?

MsTwixt: In a word: slowly. Kids should be taught to go online in stages appropriate to their age, and parents need to monitor their children’s activity online.

Here are some tips for parents:

· Create a family technology policy. Articulate clearly what your expectations are with respect to how mobile phones, television viewing, Internet browsing, YouTube watching, texting, etc., are acceptable for your family. You should share and discuss this policy with your kids so that they are clear on the behavior expectations and the reasons why. The ethics you enforce in real life absolutely extend to your kids' digital lives.

· Trust but verify. There are settings on every major browser that enable “safe search” — which is essentially search result listings of questionable sites or sites with adult content being blocked from display. Clearly this is a form of censorship, and it’s not too different from the settings on one’s cable box that block out channels based on a parent’s preference.

· Parents should check the browsing history on all computers in the home regularly. Not only is this a list of where your kids have gone online, but it provides insight into the kind of information they are looking for and what they really use the Internet for (so you can tell if “online research” includes Facebook or not).

· Parents should “Google” their kid’s names a few times a year to keep tabs on what information strangers can find about your child.

· With mobile phones, most major carriers offer text plans that not only help you to budget text usage but also monitor the texts. Some carriers charge a fee while others do not — it varies a great deal. You can also look for a plan option that backs-up the information on a phone (very helpful for the address book feature) and monitor photos taken with the phone.

· One rule in our household is that all browsing MUST happen at the dining table or living room; computers are not allowed in bedrooms. Publicly viewed screens have a “fresh air” effect on browsing.

· If your kids are under the age of 13 and want to join Facebook, consider setting up a Facebook account for the entire family instead of each member of the family. Check your privacy settings frequently on Facebook (the default settings change often).

· Another household rule with mobile phones that you might find helpful: store all phones in a central place (i.e., NOT in the child’s room). Not only does it help to mitigate the morning scramble and ensure sleep, but it prevents the late-night, unmonitored text sessions.

· An ostrich strategy won’t work when it comes to technology. If you don’t know how to text, learn; if you don’t know what Facebook or Twitter are, spend some time poking around on those sites; and if you don’t know what you don’t know, ask other parents what they’re monitoring online.

· Some of the best ways to parent include modeling the behaviors we want to see in our children. While we often think of that in the context of manners, speech, and ethics, the same applies to online behaviors.

· Focus on the positives of technology and what it offers to your kids; girls especially need to be comfortable with technology in today’s world.

Tips for teaching kids to go online safely:

· Kids need to know that just because they read something online, it is not necessarily true. They should learn which sites are trusted for research information and to check the footnotes, bibliography and sources for any online research.

· Kids should keep a running list of online bookmarks for any research project. Sites such as Delicious make this easy to both save and organize, and it’s incredibly helpful to have a list of their sources available with a single click.

· Avoid using both their first and last name together for any login, username, or screename.

· NEVER enter their address online – this should ONLY be done by a parent.

· Sit down together in front of the computer to research something. This summer we were looking for a new tank filter for our turtle, and this exercise was really helpful for our girls to see how we searched for information, the kinds of terms and phrases we used, and which sites we chose to visit and which ones we chose not to and why. The parent should narrate what they’re doing and thinking at each step in the process. We do exactly this kind of task-based testing in the development world when developing applications, and it is extremely valuable. This same exercise can also be done when going onto the family Facebook account and reading through Wall posts, viewing photos, finding friends, etc.

· If your child really wants to explore a social network online, there are kid-only sites such as Everloop, Imbee, and Togetherville that are tailored just for them. Parents can feel secure in knowing that these communities have live monitoring and are COPPA-compliant (COPPA is the Child Online Privacy and Protection Act).

· Kids should understand that information posted online has a very long “half-life.” This means not only that anyone can find that goofy photo they took with their friends junior year, but that photo will come up when someone searches for them 5 or 10 years from now — and folks they care about (such as college admission officers, job interviewers, scholarship committees, coaches) will most assuredly search for them online. This is a tough reality to confront as it means that all of the trials and tribulations of growing up and the mistakes that come with it are on public display. We can’t stuff that genie back in the bottle, but being cognizant of it is vital.

· Be picky. Kids should be very selective in which sites they chose to use for research and which communities they choose to join. Discuss with them the merits of one social network over another, why one source for research is better than another, etc. With such vastness of information, it's important to learn to filter it well. They should be selective with their time and what information they share online — VERY selective.

Photo: The White House's official family portrait taken on December 11, 2011.

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