SITE SEEING
madmarg.com
Named for the founders' daughters – Madeline and Margaret – this free Web site was created by Steve and Jennifer Churchill as a place to save stories about your children. Funny comments, special moments and little bits of everyday life that get forgotten can be stored for you and your child to remember. You also can invited others – family and friends – to add their stories.
HOT TOPIC
For the past eight years, New Moon, “The Magazine for Girls and Their Dreams” has published a special issue featuring “25 Beautiful Girls” as a response the People magazine's “50 Most Beautiful People.”
New Moon's list doesn't focus on physical beauty, instead selecting honorees “based on their courage, positive outlook on life, ability to overcome adversity, and much more.”
The goal is to combat statistics like these, which the magazine found at the Web sites in parentheses:
Eighty percent of 10-year-old American girls diet. The No. 1 magic wish for young girls age 11-17 is to be thinner. (justthink.org)
By age 13, approximately 53 percent of American girls are unhappy with their bodies. This number will increase to 78 percent once girls reach 17 years of age. (National Institute on Media and the Family)
In the past, the magazine solicited nominations from family and friends for the “25 Beautiful Girls” and received between 150 and 200 submissions. When the rules changed this year, and girls were asked to nominate themselves, the magazine's acting managing editor, Heather Parfitt, said “only 35 essays came in. The low number of submissions illustrates the importance of a 'Toot Your Own Horn' issue.”
Girls from around the country, who wrote essays about what makes them beautiful, will be featured in that May/June issue. Visit newmoon.org for more information.
WHAT'S HAPPENIN'
Alex's Lemonade Stands grew from one small stand set up by Alexandra “Alex” Scott, then a 4-year-old cancer patient, in 2000. She wanted to raise money to help “her doctors” and kept at it until she died in 2004. Her legacy lives in the hundreds of Alex's Lemonade Stands across the country every year.
The Rissolo family of San Diego is hosting its fourth annual Alex's Lemonade Stand in Balboa Park on May 17. Dominque Rissolo and Zoe Abrahams host the event in memory of their son Enzo, who was 16 months old when he died from the same cancer Alex had. Enzo's younger brother, Dario, and their parents will be at a bright yellow booth in front of the Botanical Building (where the big lily pond is) in Balboa Park from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Visit alexslemonade.org for more information on the foundation or hosting a lemonade stand.
UNDER THE COVERS
Worth a look
“Questions to Bring You Closer to Mom: 100+ Conversation Starters for Mothers and Children of Any Age” (Adams Media, $9.95) by Stuart Gustafson and Robyn Freedman Spizman offers suggestions for helping mom open up about her life, her dreams and her relationships. Questions such as “What is your greatest accomplishment?” “How do you handle feeling overwhelmed?” and “Has your faith ever been tested?” can't help but start interesting conversations between mothers and children.
JUST A THOUGHT
“The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”
– Winston Churchill (1874-1965), British statesman, soldier and author
Courtesy of Thought of the Day Archives at refdesk.com
