Our Changing Bodies

The last two Tuesdays have been very exciting, informative (and at times, a little embarrasing) for our Tween groups.


We were lucky to have an amazing guest speaker join us both weeks, Melanie Burston-Brown, who shared with us all kinds of important information about our changing bodies.


We started out by telling each other what our favourite body parts are, and Melanie noted that we love the parts of our bodies that everyone can see, but we get a little nervous when we think about the parts that we don't.

That led to a rousing discussion, often accompanied by our protective sunglasses, about puberty!

Even that word, puberty, made some of us nervous.

After a very open, frank, and often funny chat, it is safe to say that we all learned a lot. We feel much more comfortable with the things that are happening to our bodies and our minds in these Tween and upcoming teen years.

Just, please, do not call your future partner a "lamb chop"!

Thanks so much to Melanie and to all the girls for being so open to everything!

Ukrainian Egg Decorating

Thanks to Linda Brown and Jen Brennan for coming out and showing Moms and Tween Club members how to produce Ukrainian Easter Eggs.  This was not a scheduled Tween Club event just an opportunity for us to socialize.

Thanks to all that came out and our leaders for the evening,  Patti

Coming Up in April - "Growing Up - Inside and Out"

Melanie Burston-Brown will be our leader for the early April meetings.  This note from Melanie,

"This is a critical and very important time in our children's lives.  Getting the correct information about puberty, anatomy and reporoductive health is the foundation of sexual responsibility and self-care.  This workshop will emphasize what is happening to our young girl's bodies in an age appropriate manner.  our children will be participation in small group activities that will help to normalize the changes associate with puberty, as well as exploring the human reproductive systems and the miracle of birth.  We will be talking about puberty and the impact it has on their daily lives, coping strategies as well as preparing for the "big day".  While the workshop offers the same content the delivery is different for the two age groups.  With the 9-10 group we will talk more about the body, its changes and the system.  The 11-12 grop will get more into the physiology and emotions attached to their changing bodies as well as open group and hands on discussions geared towards their menstrual cycles."

We just wanted you parents to have an idea of what is going to be covered in the April meetings.

Patti   

March & April

Just a reminder that our Tweens do not have any meetings in the month of March.  We will see the girls again on Tuesday, April 1st for the 9/10 yrs and April 9th for 11/12 yrs.  These two meetings will be hosted by Melanie Burston-Brown who will be covering 'Growing Up - Changes inside and out.  We will post an outline for those session in the next couple of weeks.  

Our group meeting in April is scheduled for April 22nd.  Please mark your calendars for Saturday, May 31st.  The girls will be holding a community fundraising event at McKellar Park. More info to follow in late April.

Patti

Skating Party

A few photos from our Skating Party last Tuesday Night.  We played some games, we placed snow angels on the rink in Memory of Anna MacDonald (a churchill student that recently passed away from Cancer), and started planning our May event.  Mark your calendars for Saturday, May 31st.  The girls will be putting on an event to raise money for a charity of their choosing.

Patti

Wrapped in Nutrition

Our small group meetings this month focused on nutrition.  Both leaders reviewed the Canadian Food Guide but also had the girls look at food from a different perspective.  The girls divided up a pile of healthy food into proteins, fats and carbohydrates.  We then discussed the importance of all and their impact on healthy bodies.  The girls then tasted foods they have never tired and finally, made a tortilla wrap that included all food groups.  Some girls brought home their lunches for the next day and some had a tasty snack.  The girls played games and chatted lots. Two of their favorite activities.

We will be having a skating party on Feb 26th for both groups.  Let's cross our fingers for good weather.

We'll be in touch, Patti  

(Sorry no pics this time)

Meditation with Jen Charbonneau

Hello everyone,

We had a great combined session at the end of January with both groups of girls. Our guest speaker was Jen Charbonneau, who talked to the girls about how to deal with stress in a positive way. Jen is a great communicator and really had the girls opening up as to what causes stress in their lives.

Near the end of the meeting, Jen led the girls through a candle-lit meditation to show them how to "quiet their mind." 

As Jen puts it: "Meditation provides you with a really quiet, private place inside of you where you can go to anytime you want. If you feel stressed or sad or worried or scared, meditating can help you feel safe, uplift your spirits and give you the energy to get on with your day."

Jen has a great website for girls and parents. If you're interested, you can sign up for Jen's free monthly newsletter for parents. If you'd like a copy of Jen's "Follow the River, Follow Your Dreams" guided meditation, you can buy a CD from Jen or download it onto your MP3 player. For more information, visit: www.soglad2beme.com.

See you at the fieldhouse in February, when we'll have cooking and nutrition sessions with Shauna and Jenna. The last meeting of the month on February 26th when we'll have a combined skating party (ice conditions permitting).

Janis

Relaxing Yoga

We had a wonderful guest Yoga instructor, Tamera Dion, come and join the younger girls on Tuesday, January 8th in the Field House. Many of our Tweens came prepared, dressed in Yoga gear and carrying comfy, colourful Yoga mats.

To start out our session, we burned off some energy by playing games with a huge, bouncy ball, and then told stories of nice things we did for others over the holidays. It was great to hear the girls talking about babysitting cousins and younger friends, helping with Christmas dinner, making gifts for friends and family members, shovelling sidewalks and generally being the wonderful young ladies we get to spend time with each week.

By the time we'd heard a multitude of exciting stories, our guest arrived and set us up. Many of the Tweens had done Yoga before, but we did have some newbies.

Janis and Shauna happily watched the girls stretch, move and pose. There were a lot of funny facial expressions as each girl tried her best!

At the end of our session, we had a great time to relax, and even learned a small meditation in which we watched the glow of a candle flame until our eyes began to water.

It was wonderful to end the session calm, relaxed and refreshed. Maybe we'll meditate more in the future! That would save our parents from the bouncy girls they usually meet at the end of Tween Club.

I look forward to seeing all the Tweens at the end of the month!

Shauna

A Great Magazine for the Older Girls

Girls Can Do Anything - Canada's Empowerment Magazine for Teens. I have picked it up twice at Chapters and have been very impressed with its content, so has Kayla. The magazine is written for 11-17 year olds. It's touches on tough issues (bullying & dealing with death), body and boy issues, managing time and mess, and profiles girls that are doing great things, and lots more. You can find them at http://www.gcdamagazine.com/. I just signed Kayla up for a subscription, $24 for 6 issues which cover 12 months.

Enjoy the holidays, Patti

November - Ugly = Beautiful

Our November meetings were spent designing and producing our very own 'ugly' dolls. Although we did borrow the name of the dolls from a well known brand of toys (http://www.uglydolls.com/), our designs were truly original and uglier by far.

The girls designed their quirky dolls on paper to make patterns, cut them out and transferred them to felt, added buttons, hair, pockets and knick-knacks, then worked with their sewers to bring their creations together. At the end of the production process, quite a few of the girls brought special rocks or buttons or keep sakes to put inside their dolls to be the heart. Many of these objects were kissed by all the girls and finally stuffed inside their creations.

Our objective was to reset the expectations of perfection. Perfection is far too overrated. Anyone and everything can be viewed as beautiful in it's own way. These dolls provided the girls with a new perspective on what is 'ugly' or 'beautiful' and they also walked way with a wonderful sense of accomplishment.

We hope the girls have shared their dolls with you. The girls were also given diaries to start writing in. Their first assignment was to outline 5 things they love about themselves. Could be there feet for allowing them to run fast or the colour of their eyes which is just like their Grandmother's. We want them to start looking at the beauty they have inside and out.

Patti

Our Start In October

We start Tween club in October because September is crazy busy for all of us. By early October children and parents alike are back into a routine and ready that's when we invite our girls to join us at Tween Club.

The individual meetings in October were all about meeting each other and getting to know our leader Shauna Pollock, plus parent leader Patti and Janis, and of course an opportunity for the girls to start to mix and mingle. Although many of them knew each other from school, the neighborhood and last year's Tween Club, there were many new faces and names to get to know.

The mixing took it's natural shape of a girl frenzy at first but in time Shauna settled both groups into a series of games that allowed the girls to get to know each other a little better.

These two meetings were started in a circle format where the girls could talk about why they were in the club and what they were expecting from Tween Club this year. There are always many giggles and laughs throughout their excited conversations. What we have observed above all, is that the girls want to share (talk). The games allowed them to share their names and their personalities with the others.

During the second half of the meeting Shauna shared her experiences of being a young girl (Shauna is only 25 yrs old and a teacher in a middle school during the day).