Barack Obama has been making lots of changes since moving into the White House in January, but his most recent is especially great news for smart girls everywhere! Just this week, President Obama signed an executive order creating a White House Council on Women and Girls.

The council was created to ensure American women and girls are treated fairly in all matters of public policy. During its first year, the council will focus on important things like improving women’s economic security, developing policies that establish a balance between work and family, finding new ways to prevent violence against women, and improving women’s health care.

Here’s what President Obama had to say about the importance of the council to him:

I sign this order not just as a President, but as a son, a grandson, a husband, and a father, because growing up, I saw my mother put herself through school and follow her passion for helping others. But I also saw how she struggled to raise me and my sister on her own, worrying about how she’d pay the bills and educate herself and provide for us. I saw my grandmother work her way up to become one of the first women bank vice presidents in the state of Hawaii, but I also saw how she hit a glass ceiling — how men no more qualified than she was kept moving up the corporate ladder ahead of her. I’ve seen Michelle, the rock of the Obama family, juggling work and parenting with more skill and grace than anybody that I know. But I also saw how it tore at her at times, how sometimes when she was with the girls she was worrying about work, and when she was at work she was worrying about the girls. It’s a feeling that I share every day.

So now it’s up to us to carry that work forward, to ensure that our daughters and granddaughters have no limits on their dreams, no obstacles to their achievements — and that they have opportunities their mothers and grandmothers and great grandmothers never dreamed of. That’s the purpose of this Council. Those are the priorities of my presidency. And I look forward to working with all of you to fulfill them in the months and years to come.

Now that’s change I can believe in!

By now it’s old news that the family that eats together stays together, and that teenagers in families who regularly share meals are less likely to engage in risky behavior when it comes to things like alcohol, drugs, and sex.

Well, now there’s yet another reason to push for more family meals. A new study by the School of Public Health at the University of Minnesota found that family meals encourage healthy eating habits and good nutritional choices, even years down the road.

According to the study, children who ate five or more meals a week together as a family ate healthier meals with vegetables and foods rich in calcium, fiber, and minerals five years later.

When I was a teen, we ate as much together as a family as was possible, although weeknights were tough. Between track, volleyball, and play rehearsal, my sister and I were usually on our own, grabbing a bite to eat on the fly. I do remember that when we did share meals, my mom always made sure we had veggies (although often they were things like canned string beans, which I definitely didn’t continue eating when I left the house) and healthy choices of proteins, carbs, and fats. And I’m sure that has influenced how I make dinner today…I try to make sure we’ve got a little bit of everything that’s good for us, unless of course it’s pizza night, and even then I throw a few veggies on top.

How about you? Do you eat with your family frequently? Do you think the meals you eat together have informed you of healthy ways to eat when you’re not at home?

President Obama inherited a seriously sick economy, but if you’re like many teens, you believe he has what it takes to get the country’s finances back on track. A new study by the Scarborough Kids Internet Panel (S.K.I.P.) found that 75% of teens are “optimistic that the new administration will help solve current economic problems.”

The study also found that 74% of teens are “very worried” about the state of the economy, and many live in households that have made adjustments to accommodate changing financial situations. According to the study:

• 15% of teens dropped out of a sport or recreational activity
• 13% missed doctor’s appointments
• 11% stopped or cut back on taking vitamins
• 33% changed eating habits (the most frequent change is a reduction in eating out)
• 20% have cut back on eating organic food

I’ve definitely made some changes to try to be more money conscious in the past few months. In particular, my family has been stretching out meals by making sure we eat all our leftovers, going out to dinner less, and picking up clothes at thrift stores or consignment shops rather than brand-new and off the rack.

What about you? Have you made any changes in your spending habits to be smarter about your money?

On a related note, if the economic crisis is creating stress in your life, see my recession stress busters here!

I just read an article in U.S. News and World Report about a new study from the University of Pittsburgh which found that teens who spend many hours watching TV have a higher risk of becoming depressed as adults.

The study followed more than 4,000 teens for seven years, and looked at the amount of electronic media they consumed (TV, video games, radio) as teenagers. Seven years later, more than 7% of the young people had become depressed, and the incidence of depression was directly related to the number of hours they had been exposed to TV and other electronic media at the start of the study.

But does one thing necessarily lead to the other?

“We cannot be sure it is cause-and-effect,” said study author Dr. Brian A. Primack. “One theory is that you see a lot of depressing events on television and are likely to internalize them.”

He also suggested TV commercials might play a role. “You see about 20,000 television advertisements a year, and a large proportion of them dwell on the fact that life is not perfect.”

Lastly, he says that watching TV might also take the place of social, intellectual or athletic activities…the kinds of things that typically boost people’s emotional health and therefore protect against depression.

I didn’t watched a ton of TV as a teen (we were the one household on the block that didn’t have cable). I had my shows, of course (as I still do), but I’ve never been one to sit and watch TV all day…it makes me feel unmotivated and blah in general. Even today, I have to do a little in-home TV detox if I find I’m hooked on too many shows and I’m not taking time to do the things I need to do to stay balanced (like read, hang out with friends, sleep).

What are your TV viewing habits? Could you park yourself in front of the boob tube all day? How do you feel after watching TV for a long period of time?

Today is International Women’s Day (IWD), a day where thousands of events are held throughout the world to inspire women and celebrate their achievements. Nearly 1,000 International Women’s Day events are taking place today in more than 62 countries – from political rallies, business conferences and government activities to women’s local craft markets, theatric performances and fashion parades. Big, small, informal, and highly organized…they’re all doing the same thing: celebrating women’s advancement and highlighting the need for continued vigilance and action.

From the International Women’s Day website:

“With more women in the boardroom, greater equality in legislative rights, and an increased critical mass of women’s visibility as impressive role models in every aspect of life, one could think that women have gained true equality. The unfortunate fact is that women are still not paid equally to that of their male counterparts, women still are not present in equal numbers in business or politics, and globally women’s education, health and the violence against them is worse than that of men.However, great improvements have been made. We do have female astronauts and prime ministers, school girls are welcomed into university, women can work and have a family, women have real choices. And so the tone and nature of IWD has, for the past few years, moved from being a reminder about the negatives to a celebration of the positives.”

For a list of International Women’s Day events happening in the U.S. (where it is part of National Women’s History Month) and other countries around the world, visit the events page here.

There’s a controversial new TV show on The Learning Channel (TLC) called Toddlers and Tiaras that has some people clamoring for it to be taken off the air. In particular, a group of high school girls in Canada.

Toddlers and Tiaras follows families who enter their little girls and boys in pageants, hoping they’ll win tiaras, crowns, titles, and money.

In the process, the children, sometimes as young as two years old, are paraded around wearing makeup, spray tans, and fake hair and are judged on factors like beauty, personality, and costumes.

Hmmm…and we wonder why girls are dieting at younger and younger ages and becoming increasingly focused on trying to attain the perfect look?

That’s why Karrin Huynh and Lesley Cornelius decided to take a stand and encourage people to stop tuning in. They’ve created the Here’s their description of the group and its goals:

TLC has a new television show called “Toddlers and Tiaras”, this show is about girls as young as four and their families, as they prepare to compete in various beauty pageants. These girls are scantily clad, painted up like dolls, making them look too mature for their age. These children are being exploited by these pageants and by the show. This show is promoting pedophilia, and is very much sexualizing these children. Although I do not personally agree with any pageants, the aim of this group is to ban the TLC show and thereby take things one step at a time.

I love that these girls have realized they can use their voice to speak out and be social change agents, and apparently so do other people. Nearly 5,000 people have joined the Facebook group to date. Go girls!

Click here to and find out more.

A few weeks ago, I briefly talked about Chris Brown allegedly assaulting Rihanna while blogging about Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention Week.

Since then, all signs have pointed to a reconciliation between the two. When I found out they were back together, my heart dropped, not just because I believe that the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior and that Rihanna is putting herself at risk, but because of the message it sends to young women everywhere…that somehow being assaulted by someone who loves you is okay.

I stumbled across a fantastic essay written by two young women who are part of Females United for Action within the Women & Girls Collective Action Network and just had to share. Fifteen-year-old Alex Pates and seventeen-year-old Ansheera Ace Hilliard give their perspective on the media coverage of this situation, and powerfully express where the real issues lie:

We hear so much of what will happen to Chris Brown’s reputation and career if these allegations are proven to be true. We hear how all Chris Brown’s sponsors and endorsements will back down, and how his entire career may go down the drain. Now we ask, what is going to happen to Rihanna? We never hear, on a well publicized scale, how this is going to affect her career. We do not even hear how she may be damaged mentally, physically, or emotionally after this incident of abuse. You would think that because she is a survivor of abuse, people would be concerned with her well-being.

Every time there is a story like this we never hear anything from the survivor’s point of view. We really want to know how this is affecting Rihanna. What is life like for her now? We feel like in situations like this the young woman of color is always left out and forgotten about and more likely than not the blame is put on her. She is put to the side and told to get on with her life. But that is not so simple. There are scars that will never heal and wounds that will never close. We will probably never even get to sympathize with her. We want there to be something out there that tells the story from the perspective of the survivor.

Read the full essay here!

UPDATE (March 18, 2009): Click here to read another interesting (and disturbing) article in the NY Times about why many teen girls are siding with Chris Brown.

If you’re like most teens, you spend a fair amount of time on social networking sites. Facebook alone has more than 150 million users who go online to update their status, share pictures, post links, and connect with friends from all over the world. But is there any downside to spending so much time doing the whole social networking thing?

Some scientists think so.

A recent article in the London paper, the Daily Mail, quotes neuroscientist Susan Greenfield who says that sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Bebo are actually changing the brains of young users, adding that these sites “shorten attention spans, encourage instant gratification, and make young people more self-centered.”

She goes on to say:

Real conversation in real time may eventually give way to these sanitized and easier screen dialogues, in much the same way as killing, skinning and butchering an animal to eat has been replaced by the convenience of packages of meat on the supermarket shelf. Perhaps future generations will recoil with similar horror at the messiness, unpredictability and immediate personal involvement of a three-dimensional, real-time interaction.

It should be said that there is no concrete evidence to support Susan Greenfield’s theory, and the idea that brain functionality is being changed by these online experiences is raising many eyebrows (including mine). While there are certainly many benefits to having face-to-face, in-person conversations, I would argue that Facebook and Twitter have done more good for communicating than bad. As an occasional Twitterer, I have made great connections and friends through those short little dialogue bursts, and I frequently use Facebook IM to talk with the teen authors I’m working with. In the latter situation, Facebook has deepened these relationships, and brought us closer together, while making our work back-and-forth smooth and efficient.

Here’s another take on the controversial claim over at One Seventeen Media. Like One Seventeen Media, I agree with the whole idea that it’s about moderation…too much of anything, including spending time online, isn’t a good thing.

Do you think there’s any truth behind Geenfield’s theory?

I wanted to give a quick shout out to the Divas over at readergirlz…Happy Two Year Anniversary! Since their launch in March 2007, readergirlz has connected tons of YA authors with their adoring fans through interviews, live chats, contests, and more. As their manifesto states, readergirlz is about:

• having serious fun while talking about books with the author and your friends
• getting the inside scoop about why the novel was written, the tears and joys and real-world angst that the author has lived and layered into her story
• reading great books to get to know yourself, your friends, and yes, even your mother, better
• celebrating strong girls in books who’ve got the guts to dream
• reaching out to others based on what you’ve read
• inspiring girls to make history of their own

Every month, readergirlz features a different author – this month it’s Mary E. Pearson, author of The Adoration of Jenna Fox. And coming up in April is one of my favorite YA authors, Ellen Hopkins.

Congratulations to readergirlz on this very special occasion!

It’s March, and that means it’s National Women’s History Month! NWHM was started in 1987 to acknowledge and recognize the amazing accomplishments of women with a goal of inspiring girls and women to recognize their own limitless potential and giving boys and men a full understanding of the female experience.

The theme for this year’s NWHM is Women Taking the Lead to Save Our Planet, and the women being recognized include scientists, engineers, business leaders, writers, filmmakers, conservationists, teachers, community organizers, religious or workplace leaders or others whose lives show exceptional vision and leadership to save our planet.

Learning about women who have triumphed against negative forces and have had an effect on many people in their lifetime and after can be inspirational. Here are some suggestions, courtesy of the National Women’s Month Project and Alex Glanz–Berger (Newton North H.S.), to help you be creative while learning.

• Imagine doing anything, then narrow down the list to the more manageable ideas.
• Use local resources. Start with your school faculty and librarian and other people you know, and then the people they know.
• Don’t be shy. Call any organization or person the least bit related to your topic. If they can’t provide appropriate resources or speakers, they may be able to suggest another source. Remember, not many high school students plan programs themselves, and most people will be thrilled that you called.
• The internet offers a plethora of ideas. Women’s organizations offer a lot of on–line information through their web sites. Ask for their help, too.
• Contact the local media. Your program will be of interest to local newspaper readers and television viewers, and you merit the attention.
• A few of your classmates may react in an immature or insecure way. Choose the battles you want to fight and don’t take things personally. Plan your reaction and do the best you can.

How much do you know about the famous women in history who made important contributions to the world? Take the National Women’s History Project quiz and find out!