Teen Magazines Boobs and periods

Bohne wrote:

Just trying to think what I would have done in your daughter's position...

First I would have argued to get the magazine back.
Then I would have tried to find it.
Finally I would have gone to the shop and bought a new copy.

Simply because: if it is worth taking it from me, it MUST be worth reading it!

My mother once took a book from me that I got out of her collection.
It was called: the good marriage or something like that.
I probably was around 12.
Of course I got it back and read it, when she wasn't there...

If she hadn't done that, I would have probably put it back after three or four pages, since it was totally boring (for me at the time).

Actually my daughter didn't really even seem to care. She just sort of brushed it off like o-k. She is very level headed so if you explain something to her and your reasoning she is usually o-k. On the other hand, if she doesn't agree with your reasoning, she will certainly tell you so.

If she told me she thought she was old enough, I would either have read with her some of the articles so that I could explain things rather than just the article's advice or go with her to the bookstore and find something similar, but more appropriate to her age.

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carrie wrote:

When I was growing up I had access to a book called 'How your body works' and it shows the changes that happen in your body by making the body look like it is made up of all sorts of little factory production lines. It gets the basics across in a non graphic non flippant way, and supplies just enough info to keep a childs curiosity satisfied until they are a little older. It is a picture book perfect for her age, and the body change / sex parts are in with all the other parts of the body, so are displayed in a positive way as a normal natural process. Have a look, it's great

Thanks, Carrie. That sounds great and more the way I would want my child to learn rather than through a trashy magazine.

Perhaps when my daughter is a teen and understands a bit more about her body and has developed a sense of who she, I wouldn't care so much about the precise terminology as she would already have a positive basis and viewpoint of her body.

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When I worked on such subjects (in youth clubs etc, outside school), I really wondered how young children were who knew all "those" words - but mostly without knowing wht they meant.

My work was under the motto "emancipating girl's and anti discrimating boy's social work' - I had to start with that work with younger children than I origianally thought.

I think that a bad terminology indeed is the breding ground that e.g. girls are just sexual objects for boys.
And that girls feel like being only sexual objects.

That would be a really bad start in adulthood, I think.
And I do belive that some media do/could support such a bad start.

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Walter Hinteler wrote:

When I worked on such subjects (in youth clubs etc, outside school), I really wondered how young children were who knew all "those" words - but mostly without knowing wht they meant.

My work was under the motto "emancipating girl's and anti discrimating boy's social work' - I had to start with that work with younger children than I origianally thought.

I think that a bad terminology indeed is the breding ground that e.g. girls are just sexual objects for boys.
And that girls feel like being only sexual objects.

That would be a really bad start in adulthood, I think.
And I do belive that some media do/could support such a bad start.

Thanks, Walter, I think that is one thing I was trying to get at. I want my daughters to feel positive about themselves as people, and not only sexual objects. It is bad enough with cosmo, and other media sources that emphasize how a woman should look and that they need to look like that. It is difficult enough to begin growing into a woman without having derogatory titles associated with how your body is changing.

In addition, I felt some of the articles were a bit old for her. It is geared for teens, not pre-teens. But that is another debate - what is the right age?

I think it is important to discuss with children about their bodies and hide things. I do think though you need to discuss in a way that is appropriate for each child and their age. I don't think she had an issue with us taking the magazine because I honestly think she agrees with us. That and I told her I would buy her another that would be better suited for her.

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I'm agreed with Linkat on the terminology thing....it might sound fussy to some (and I do wish my mom would relax about it NOW, for heaven's sake Laughing

), but I was taught to use the word "breasts," with the explanation that "boobs" sounds kind of dumb and not-pretty, like it's making fun of breasts when they are something nice and beautiful. Maybe that seems uptight, but I don't think so. It was respectful, and made me feel respectful of my body and others' bodies as well. Of course there are all kinds of ways to teach respect, and words aren't necessarily at the heart of that, but it can't hurt to start off with using nicer words-- you'll move on to the uglier words soon enough, god knows....

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Personally, I think "boobs" is a friendly term and "tits" a sexist term, but Linkat has to make the rules for her daughter now so that down the road her daughter will be able to make sensible rules for herself.

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I can see feeling either way, but I agree with Noddy, and, moving along, definitely agree that (what do they call it, menarch?) starting one's period is statistically happening earlier and earlier, seemingly by the day.

On reading, I pretty much taught myself about sex by reading westerns. I tell ya, I was deprived. Those, and the Seventeen magazines typical of the fifties. And a couple of classes in grade school and high school. Luckily I lived past all that. Then I got to university and was assigned to read Kinsey while I still lived at home. That was my first and last effort to hide a book from my mother, who I felt then might have died to have found it, and, looking back, I was probably right. Can't remember if there were one or two volumes..

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I remember when I was having radiation treatment after breast cancer how delighted the elderly ladies were with the playfulness of "boobs" and the fact that "boobs" was a word that took children and grandchildren aback coming from grandmama's lips.

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Teen Magazines Boobs and periods

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Teen Magazines Boobs and periods