The spring that I was eleven, there were two things I wanted most—white tights with lace at the bottom (they came in multiple colors, but I hoped for basic white) and breasts.   Breasts... Read more >>

  I’d thought about this moment from the moment my first daughter entered the world, a little over 10 years ago.   Okay, it was an on-and-off sort of thinking, but it was always there,... Read more >>

Margaret, the iconic protagonist in Judy Blume’s 1970 young-adult book, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret., is a sixth-grade girl just dying to hit puberty and become a woman.... Read more >>

My daughter is almost nine. My son is almost twelve. I still feel like I’m twenty. I swear some days I look around and wonder who in the world thought it was a good idea to bless me with... Read more >>

What is it that entices or mortifies us about women’s breasts? They are the very image of our femininity, and they feed our children. Recently I was in a public library and browsing the New... Read more >>

Your teen is too old to go to the pediatrician but too young for a doctor who treats adults. This is a dilemma faced by most parents. The answer may be an adolescent medical specialist.... Read more >>

“Today, you got your first bra. You’ve been asking me for one the past few months. I was not sure you needed one, mostly because I was in denial. Lately, you kept on asking, even offering... Read more >>

It’s a disgusting hate-your-body role reversal. Women who wax it all off in an attempt to look like prepubescent girls are now being emulated by those very same children. According to a recent... Read more >>

I spoke with Dawn Valadez, Co-director with Kristy Guevara-Flanagan of the film Going on 13, which premieres at the Tribeca Film Festival. Going on 13 explores the lives of four girls over the course... Read more >>

My parents are moving to. After eighteen years on Evanson St. they’re packin’ it up and shippin’ out of the big city. It’s weird to think that my childhood house will be... Read more >>