A Running Mom

Photo Credit: http://iTwixie.com

This year has brought many incredible people into my life! This girl is a great example these kinds of people, and what they mean to me, my business and what the greater message should be to us all.

I met this girl at the Pittsburgh Kids Marathon One Mile Fun Run this year. iTwixie.com was a sponsor, so a team of us attended the event and offered all kids the chance to make friendship bracelets, compete for iTwixie t-shirts and Maddie Georgi cds (Maddie Georgi is the singer/songwriter of iTwixie’s theme song, “Go!”). After the kids finished the race, many stopped by to see what was going on at our booth.

This girl stopped by, hoola-hooped to win an iTwixie t-shirt, smiled for a few pictures and asked about iTwixie. I told her how iTwixie.com was the only site on the web that really is all about real tween girls like her, who are smart, savvy, athletic and curious about all kinds of stuff.

She and I had a great chat, because it turns out, she just started running last year and quickly learned that she was pretty fast. In fact, she kept running and now is one of the top ten fastest runners in her age group in the USA.

Pretty incredible, yes?

Isn’t she beautiful?

We’re celebrating our 1st birthday right now on iTwixie. We’ve met girls like this incredible runner all year long, who continue to amaze us with their incredible strength, positive attitude and real interest in reaching out to other girls like them. Companies around the globe are trying to teach these beautiful girls that they need make-up, sexy clothing and boys to know that they are beautiful.

At  iTwixie.com, we recognize the true beauty in each and every tween girl right now!  Whether she climbs trees, plays a sport, loves science, technology, engineering, math (STEM), literature, fashion, design, singing, acting, dressing up or dressing down, she is beautiful! Won’t you applaud your tween girl for being the real girl that she is today? Tell her she is smart, savvy, funny, cool, kooky, crazy, fun or courageous! And tell her all of those things make her beautiful!

Let’s stop pushing our girls away from embracing these incredible tween years! Let’s STOP encouraging them to wear make-up, pluck their eyebrows, wear skimpy clothing, worry about boys or what they look like! Let’s stop criticizing their “shape” at a time when their bodies are changing more rapidly than any other time in their lives! Let’s embrace them as the morphing beings they are! Won’t you simply embrace her as she is?

Let’s celebrate our tween girls and spark a revolution in this world to join us and cheer them on! Won’t you and your family join the iTwixie.com revolution?

One of the families that stopped by to talk to us at the Pittsburgh Kids Marathon One Mile Fun Run, shared their fun routine of running 1 mile, 3 times a week, together as a family. How fun! The kids were 5, 7 and 9. These kids, 2 girls and a little boy, looked at me, proud, steadfast as true champions, with medals hanging from their necks, a goody bag full of fun stuff, and an iTwixie t-shirt in their hands from winning one of the iTwixie challenges. Priceless, right? Better than taking them to a movie perhaps? Certainly better than hanging out at the mall all day or hitting a fast food joint, wouldn’t you agree?

It was a wonderful day!

The Pittsburgh Kids Marathon One Mile Fun Run is like many races throughout the world that bring families and kids together to celebrate family, fun and fitness. Won’t you find a race like it and run with your family soon? We’d love to hear about it!

May your next run be a good one.

Rebecca

Photo Credit: iTwixie.com

Character: Character is a set of behavior traits that define what sort of person an individual is. It determines whether a person will effectively achieve goals, be forthright in dealing with others and will obey the laws and rules of the group. Although character is related to personality, it is not the same thing. Personality is primarily inborn traits, while character consists of learned behavior. Both may vary with the situation or circumstances.

Aren’t these girls fabulous? They are full of joy, happiness and are showing off their unique character. Sure they’re dressed up for Halloween — but they aren’t dressed in skimpy outfits, as divas or in the new wave of costume that tries to make our girls look like adults. They’re dressed up as football players! Very cool! Full of character!

To me, character is in crisis today. As a society we do not focus enough on helping to develop character in our budding leaders for tomorrow. This development has to begin early and continue through the pre-adolescent years, because by high school, much of this development must be in place to help our high schoolers make quality choices.

Instead of character development, it seems that our world is much more into complaining about stuff and focussing on appearances. In fact, as a society, we focus so much on appearances, that is it any wonder that our impressionable, young girls are finding themselves in crisis over how they look? Today we have a record number of a few, startling achievements: a record number of tween girls suffering from depression, eating disorders and contemplation of suicide.

Trouble is, there are numerous organizations out there who believe the problem is that our girls have low self esteem.

Maybe that is part of the problem. And, indeed, part of the solution.

But what if, maybe, the trouble starts with each adult today who has dropped the ball in aiding in the character development of our girls?

Regardless of whether or not you agree with me on that one, you will find this next thought challenging at the least and worth trying — TODAY — at the most!

Make TODAY the day that you DO something that empowers YOU and your daughter!

Start these TODAY:
- Stop gossiping at all, but especially in front of your daughter.
- Compliment your daughter on something she has done today, instead of how she looks.
- Do not mention one flaw of yours in front of your daughter.
- Start a meaningful project that your daughter can do as well, such as writing letters to the troops, collecting food for the hungry or designing a new way to collect paperboard for recycling in your home.
- Take 20 minutes and use them to make you and your daughter STRONGER: Lift some weights, or go for a walk or run, or take the Lunge Challenge on iTwixie.com with your daughter — this just might be the start to a whole new and stronger you and stronger daughter.

Well?

I’m no longer accepting comments on this blog, as I began to receive thousands everyday by some new friends representing a broad array of nonsense products. So, alas, until I install better filtering, please send your comments to my up and coming facebook page: A Running Mom!

May your next run be a good one.
Rebecca

Just like they say on iTwixie.com, let’s be BFFs!

I promise, as your BFF, to:
1. Always share chocolate cake if you have leftovers on your countertop
2. Make sure I’m in bed by 11:30pm, so I can wake up early enough to run with you or to let you know that I did, so you’ll feel motivated to do the same
3. Try and run in the morning, at least 3 days a week, so that on those days I will be chipper all day long and I’ll even try to get you to run with me

That’s the kind of stuff a great BFF will do. I promise I’ll always be your BFF!

May your next run be a good one.
Rebecca

I’m often reminded that we live in a tiny world. With the launch of iTwixie.com, I’m getting the rare opportunity to hear from girls all over the globe. It’s amazing to me that regardless of culture, many of these girls struggle with many similar themes. And yet, doesn’t it make sense? If you’re a girl 8-14, aren’t you just bursting with enthusisam, curiosity and the wish to be who you feel you really are deep down inside? And as you find yourself experiencing all kinds of new things, aren’t you realizing yourself that there is even more to you than you thought?

Do you remember what it was like to be a tween?

I started to run when I was a tween. I thought running would help me look a certain way. But over time running became my escape. A pressure release. My challenge. Time alone. A moment of clarity. And at the end of every run I felt that everything was really a lot better than before I had gone on that run.

Thing is, today, our global society puts more pressure on our tween girls than ever. But we don’t have to. We can join forces and foster the development of tween girls no matter where they live. We can help tween girls identify tools for identifying their moments of clarity. Escape. Release. Challenge. We can help them see the world around them in a better light.

iTwixie.com. Join the revolution. Because it is a small world and together we can change it!

May your next run be a good one!
Rebecca