Thursday, July 12, 2007

We Believe in Girls



Mattel and Barbie has recently launched a new site called We Believe in Girls. The site focuses on what it takes to raise a girl today, and how we can best support today's girls as they move through childhood to young adulthood.

As girls today grow up too fast and often skip past the simple joys of "girlhood", We Believe in Girls aims to give parents a voice about the state of girls today. Parents can participate in polls as well as weigh in on discussion forums about societal pressures their daughters face everyday. The poll results will then help shape the content of a global, 10-country research study this summer. Everyone is invited to participate, from moms and dads to teachers, academics, social commentators, behaviorists - anyone who cares about girls' well being. They want to hear your ideas, opinions, points of view - in short the unfiltered truth!



Barbie herself has been a 48-year icon of girls' childhoods, alternatively adored or critiqued based often our views about girls, their play, their bodies, role-modeling, and their self-images. In addition to collecting real advice from real parents, the website will be augmented with relevant articles, website links and an engaging array of diverse parenting points-of-view from around the world.

I believe it is very important to support this effort! Your voice will be heard and you can listen to the voices of others about raising happy, healthy girls and to help them achieve their dreams. I encourage all of my readers to join the discussion!