Alphamom » Denise Restauri

Tween Thoughts on Google Latitude

Denise Restauri — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 08:03:53 +0000

Google announced Latitude, to its mobile maps service.

Google Latitude enables you to share your location with your friends, and see where your friends are (or at least where they want you to “think” they are). Through Latitude, you are able to connect with friends by sending them a text, chatting via Google talk or even getting directions to your friend’s location. It works on any phone that can run Google Maps My Location.
What do Tween Girls think about Latitude? We asked 219 AllyKatzz tween girls to give us their “pulse-check” on friend-tracking:

Main reason they don’t want to be tracked? They say it’s “stalkerish.” Translation: They’re being followed.

Can Your Tween Girl KenKen?

Denise Restauri — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 19:58:16 +0000

Tween girls LOVE Sudoku. Will they love KenKen?

A 14-year-old tween girl showed me the way to KenKen – is a little bit like Sudoku, except KenKen is a numerical logic puzzle and requires the BIG M – Math. KenKen means “cleverness squared.”

“They” say the rules are simple: Fill the grid with digits so as not to repeat a digit within any row or column, and so the digits within each heavily outlined box (called a cage) go together using the arithmetic operation shown to make the target number indicated.

So far, I’m totally confused, but that makes it very similar to my first reaction to Sudoku. (That was before my tween daughter showed me the way.)
KenKen was invented by the Japanese educator Tetsuya Miyamoto, who founded and teaches at the Miyamoto Math Classroom in Tokyo. Students attend his class on weekends to improve their math and thinking skills. Mr. Miyamoto said he believes in “the art of teaching without teaching.”
I think I could get hooked on KenKen.

Empty nesting: not as empty as it sounds?

Denise Restauri — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 19:23:46 +0000

Photo by Muffet
My sister Liz has two incredible boys. They’re both men, actually, which even I have a hard time facing. (How could they be grown up when I remember changing their diapers? Sunrise, sunset! Swiftly fly the years! Etc.!) One of her sons is in college and the other is in law school. After years together as a family, she and her husband have found themselves all alone. And they couldn’t be happier. She loves it when her kids visit, of course— but it turns out that she loves it when they leave.
I don’t know of a more devoted mom than my sister, so what gives? Shouldn’t she be pining for her babies? Isn’t that what mothers do?
Turns out, not so much. As recently reported in the New York Times, a new study published in the journal “Psychological Science” shows that marital satisfaction increases after the kids have taken their leave.
In the past few years, several studies have shown that marital happiness is adversely affected by children. Which, when you think about it, is really not all that surprising. (Sorry, kids.) Children may be limitless sources of joy for parents, but they don’t do much for quality time between a husband and wife. The increased financial stress of supporting a family can be a cause of great unhappiness and conflict. The struggle over sharing household duties can put strain on even the strongest marriage. And there’s nothing like fighting over money and/or who’s going to do the dishes over the din of a screaming toddler or bickering teens to make you think get me out of here.
But instead of running to a divorce lawyer, maybe all you have to do is wait a few years, or twenty! Because according to this latest study, once the kids are out of the house, the quality of spousal interactions improves, and both partners—but wives, especially—feel happier in their marriages.
I didn’t think this was the first time I’d read about a study like this, so I went searching through my bookshelves, and lo and behold: in the book “Stumbling on Happiness,” Daniel Gilbert addresses the myth of the empty nest syndrome. According to the four separate studies Gilbert references, marital satisfaction takes a huge dip when the first child arrives and increases only after the last child has left. “Despite what we read in the popular press,” Gilbert writes, “the only known symptom of ‘empty nest syndrome’ is increased smiling.”
According to the Times, we may not have to wait until our kids have vamoosed to feel better in our marriages. “The lesson from the empty nest may be that parents need to work to carve out more stress-free time together.” After all, empty nesters say that they don’t spend more time with their spouses, just better time. So making date night more of a priority might cure the all-kids-all-the-time blues.
So: any empty nesters out there? Anyone dreading or looking forward to their kids leaving home? Tell us your story, below.

Wizards Beat Vampires at bookstores

Denise Restauri — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 09:13:59 +0000

Twilight was “the next Harry Potter” for a short time… until our fave wizard scribe released her spin-off, “The Tales of Beedle the Bard.”

It has sold almost five times as many copies in its first few days after publication as its nearest rival, Guinness World Records 2008.
The success of the 109-page collection of short stories, which Rowling did not originally intend for publication, underlines the powerful hold she continues to exert over readers – and the book industry.
The Tales of Beedle the Bard – mentioned in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the latest book in wizard boy series – sold 367,625 copies in the first three days after publication on December 4.

More Story Here: Harry Potter: The Tales of Beedle the Bard becomes fastest-selling book of 2008
Photo source

Advice Book From 9-Year-Old to become a movie

Denise Restauri — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 08:04:46 +0000

Twentieth Century Fox has optioned rights to “How to Talk to Girls,” a newly published advice guide written by Alec Greven, a 9-year-old published-author on the subject.
The advice seems simple enough to follow: Greven’s tips range from the facts of life (“Sometimes, you get a girl to like you, then she ditches you. Life is hard, move on!”), to getting a girl’s attention (”Show off a skill, like playing soccer or anything else that you are good at.”) to talking to girls (“You also have to be aware that girls win most of the arguments.”) to dealing with crushes (“It can be very hard to get a girl to like you. Sometimes it takes years! Whatever happens, just don’t act desperate.”).

Full Story Here: Fox learns “How to Talk to Girls”

The All-American Tween-Teen

Denise Restauri — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 06:49:12 +0000

From a California punk to a Georgia drag queen, the pride and passion of a generation coming of age.
More photos at MSNBC.com This photo and the others excerpted from It’s Complicated: The American Teenager by Robert Bowman.

Tween Girls still love her: Britney’s “Circus” is No. 1

Denise Restauri — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 09:20:03 +0000

TWEEN GIRLS are “flippin tired of all the junk ppl have been saying about her!!!”

“And she’s like old Britney with the long blond hair, toned-up body and making sexy videos, and that’s resonating with her old fans,” Davis says.
Weiss says the star deserves credit for knowing her audience well and changing with the times: “Despite all the craziness and paparazzi and people chasing her around, she’s not that dissimilar to a lot of the girls buying her records.”

Will those Scary Santa photos embarass your tween?

Denise Restauri — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 21:19:51 +0000

I read the following today and thought, “Wait til these kids become tweens… this book will be in their pile of “ways my mom embarrassed me!”

GMA Weekend will be featuring a new book entitled, Scared of Santa: Scenes of Terror in Toyland, authored by two writers from the Chicago Tribune.
Is Your Kid Scared of Santa? Send Us a Photo!
“GMA Weekend” wants to see your photos of terrified tots sitting on Santa’s lap.

Adventurous Holiday

Denise Restauri — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 08:58:37 +0000

This week, we’ll see this featured on the morning talk shows… but we’re blogging about it on Alphamom now. Adventurous, fun and exciting things to DO with your daughter (or son or husband or BFF) this holiday (or anytime!).
1. Wolf watch experience (After Twilight who wouldn’t want to do this?)
2. Feed sharks
3. Dig for dinosaur fossils
4. Be the girls on the flying trapeze
5. Ride in a dune buggy
6. Learn to snow kite
7. Train seals with a seal trainer
8. Go indoor rock climbing
Discovery Channel has a ton of Crazy cool experiences starting at $50.00.
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Tween Girl Gift Giveaways

Each day this week (starting December 8) you can enter to win an awesome prize at our partner site for tween girls, AllyKatzz.
Just head over there and enter your email address (and confirm that you are over 18).
If you are the lucky daily winner, they will contact you via email to get your mailing address to send you your prize. Simple! And since they are our BFF, we trust their word that they we will not give your email address to anyone. They are a SAFE site for tween girls. They NEVER share personal info.

Tween Girl Twilight Dissers?

Denise Restauri — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 10:04:23 +0000

Here’s a quote from a tween girl on the Twilight book series:

After reading Twilight, I got hooked and read the next two novels, but got sad again when I had nothing to read, so I reread Twilight. When I reread it, I started to really hate it.

Twilight Debate Continued Here.