St. Gerard's Campus in St. Augustine

Let's face it, teen pregnancy is not an ideal situation however it happens.

Parenting is never easy, whether there is one parent or two involved, it is expensive and the cost is not only financial, but emotional.

St. Gerard, located in St. Augustine, has been helping young pregnant women and girls since 1981.

St. Gerard Campus rescues girls and provides guidance to help them avoid poverty, dependency, and welfare. They learn to cope with difficult situations, rise above those difficulties, and grow to be nurturing mothers, productive members of society, and a positive force in the workplace.

In their 30 years open, they have mentored over 48,000 mothers and supported the birth of almost 31,000 babies.

The holidays are a time to give.  Take the time to be a part of our community outreach, stop by and donate what you can.
Here is a list of some of the items they need:

• Food
• Formula
• Diapers
• Adult's and children's clothing
• Maternity clothes
• Baby clothing
• Cribs and bassinets
• Infant seats
• Car seats
• Bouncy seats
• Carriages
• Strollers
• High chairs
• Dressers
• Furniture and household items such as curtains, bedspreads, couches, tables, etc. 

If your not located in St. Augustine, be sure to find a local charity to give to, especially at this time of the year.  There are so many people, especially young children that need our help.

Odd Girl Out (Newly Revised and Updated Edition)

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By Rachel Simmons 

Just in time for BACK TO SCHOOL!

REVISED AND UPDATED with new material on cyberbullying and helping girls handle the dangers of life online.


“Peels away the smiley surfaces of adolescent female society to expose one of girlhood’s dark secrets: the vicious psychological warfare waged every day in the halls of our middle schools and high schools.” — San Francisco Chronicle

When Odd Girl Out was first published, it became an instant bestseller and ignited a long-overdue conversation about the hidden culture of female bullying. Today, the dirty looks, taunting notes, jealousy and social exclusion that plague girls’ friendships have gained new momentum in cyberspace; we need fresh, innovative strategies to help our girls come through it all.

Reinforced by up-to-the-minute research and enlivened with real-life stories, this groundbreaking book continues to be the definitive resource illuminating the most pressing social issues facing girls today.

“Passionate and beautifully written. A significant contribution to our understanding of the psychology of girls.” — Michael Thompson, co-author of Raising Cain

“Cathartic to any teen or parent trying to find company.” –Detroit Free Press

An American School Board Journal Notable Book in Education

Includes a Reading Group guide and Teacher’s Guide

Order today on Amazon.

Heartlight Girls: Self Esteem for Young Girls

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Young girls of today are bombarded by the media and their peers to conform to an unrealistic and idealistic image based on external appearances.  

Much focus is placed upon what one looks like, while little is being done developing them internally, reminding them of their true essence.  

Because of this, anorexia, bulimia, depression, plastic surgery, and even suicide are at an all time high amongst our teens.

HEARTLIGHT GIRLS  is about developing young girls (ages 7-14) from the “inside out”, empowering them and building a strong foundation within themselves prior to reaching the turbulent teenage years. 

HEARTLIGHT GIRLS  not only help raise the self-esteem of girls, but bring to their awareness the beauty of the essence that is at the core of each of us.  The result is happier and healthier young women, more self-reliant and self-controlled…in other words, less vulnerable to the negative influences that are an unfortunate part of adolescence. 

Order Beauty's Secret: A Girl's Discovery of Inner Beauty by Debra Gano (founder of Heartlight Girls) today.

Follow them on Twitter @HeartlightGirls.

Best Kept Secret - Part 2 of The Pink Locker Society

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I just loved Debra Moffitt's Pink Locker Society - almost as much as my 12 year old niece did! 

Now part 2 is here!  Best Kept Secret!  I am so excited to read it.  I am anxiously waiting for it. 

From Amazon: 

At the end of "Only Girls Allowed", the first book in the "Pink Locker Society" series, readers were left with a cliff hanger when the society was abruptly shut down by the principal of Margaret Simon Middle School, thanks to hacking by the ever-popular and charismatic Taylor. But Jemma, Piper, and Kate won't be kept down!

At the start of "Best Kept Secret", "The Pink Locker Society" is back in action, featuring the same three smart and savvy 8th graders on their mysterious mission - to help other middle school girls by answering their questions about anything, especially the PBBs (Periods, Bras, and Boys). But this time, the girls are running the show from the spooky school basement, without any adult help. They'll discover why the society was shut down years before, and learn that they'll need to watch their backs to stay afloat.

All the while, Jemma is dealt a rude awakening when her beautiful best friend, Piper, secretly asks Forrest to the annual Backwards Dance. Yes, That Forrest - Jemma's epic crush! Will Jemma and Piper resolve their differences? And will the Pink Locker Society survive? For now, the fate of the friendship and the society are Best Kept Secret, but Jemma may soon unlock the secret behind the pink doors once and for all.

Order today!

CarCheckup and your teens

CarCheckup provides a service that will help you monitor your teen's driving habits.

Our device simply plugs into the teen's car (usually under the steering wheel) and records data as the car is driven.

At the end of the day or week, bring the device inside and plug it into your computer with the built-in USB arm. Log into your personal account and easily download the data and review it with your teen.

Together, you can review summaries and graphs of each of your teen's trips allowing you to see:

•  Highest Speed and RPM
•  Distance and Duration of Trip Traveled
•  Time Driven in Different Speed Bands
•  Hard and Extreme Braking and Acceleration
•  Graphs of Each Trip Showing Speed or RPM
•  If the check engine light is on, we can even tell you why! 

Read more.

When Big Issues Happen to Little Girls: How to Prepare, React, and Manage Your Emotions So You Can Best Support Your Daughter

The average fifth-grade girl knows a cutter, a classmate with Asperger's syndrome, or has a friend with two fathers. Issues like these are big, and they are just drops in the bucket. A generation ago, we worried more about kidnapping and divorce than cyberbullying and prescription-drug abuse. With little personal experience in the new, complex issues that plague our daughters on a daily basis, how can parents today help their girls cope better and raise a generation of girls who are resilient and self-confident instead of insecure and confused? This book answers that question with concrete action steps and easy-to-follow talking points that help parents keep the lines of communication open and better support their daughters.


Author Erin A. Munroe, LMHC, who has been counseling adolescents for more than a decade, is in a unique position to help parents understand how girls cope and react to stressors and adult-size problems today, so they can be active and effective participants in their daughters' reality. When Big Issues Happen to Little Girls also helps parents learn about themselves and control their own emotional responses to the big issues their daughters face, including:

· Sexuality, sexual orientation, STDs, and pregnancy
· Mental health issues and learning disabilities
· Bullying, peer pressure, and cyberbullying
· School anxiety, social anxiety, and other phobias
 Substance use and abuse and the newest addictions
· High expectations for young girls that often cost them their childhood

Raising girls is a big responsibility. Let When Big Issues Happen to Little Girls become your twenty-first-century parenting strategy and give your daughter the gift of resiliency and confidence that she is deserving and capable of experiencing.

Order today on Amazon.

The Pink Locker Society - Coming Sept 14th

KidsHealth.org created The Pink Locker Society just for girls like you. You’re curious, smart, and ready to find out more about growing up.

Coming soon - September 14th to be exact, you can get your copy of The Pinker Locker Society from Amazon or other major book stores.

The Pink Locker Society (PLS) has a mysterious past and an uncertain future. Meet the members of this secret society and one very important cute boy. Just between you and me, Jemma has a monster-sized crush on him. But does he want to be more than friends?

Meet the cast of the PLS here.

Pre-orders are now being accepted!

Girl World Tour Fall 2010 with Rosalind Wiseman

Moms & daughters (ages 8-14) are invited to join Rosalind Wiseman, an internationally-recognized author, mom and expert on teens & parenting for a fun-filled evening of mother-daughter bonding. In addition to celebrating Rosalind’s latest books, the tour will feature an interactive discussion about confidence, friendships, sweat-inducing moments and common mother-daughter challenges. A Q&A session and book signing will follow. The two-hour event is sure to get mothers and daughters talking, laughing and connecting.

Event Details

$40** per mother-daughter pair includes: admission to the event, ***one copy of each of Rosalind’s latest books, and a gift bag featuring free samples of Dove go fresh deodorant!  Offer details and Rebate information will be available at the event.

Parents will receive Queen Bees & Wannabes: Helping Your Daughter Survive Cliques, Gossip, Boyfriends, and the New Realities of Girl World and daughters will receive Rosalind’s debut young adult novel Boys, Girls, and Other Hazardous Materials.

*We welcome any adult with a young girl in their life to attend the event. Fathers, big sisters, Girl Scout troop leaders, aunts, etc. are all welcome! Attend with the 8-14 year old girl in your life and share important conversations about her friendships, growth, and development.

**Cost of tickets may vary slightly in each market. Please contact your local host at the number provided for further details.

***Additional tickets may be purchased for $20 per person (also includes a book and gift bag).

Phoenix, AZ – Monday, September 20, 2010
Host: Changing Hands Bookstore
Location: Desert Mountain High School Auditorium, 12575 East Vía Linda, Scottsdale
Time: 6:30-8:30pm
Tickets: Available from Changing Hands in-store, or by calling (480) 730-0205.

Salt Lake City, UT – Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Host: The King’s English Bookshop
Location: Rowland Hall St. Mark’s; Larimer Auditorium; Lincoln Street Campus, 843 Lincoln Street, Salt Lake City
Time: 7-9pm
Tickets: Available from The King’s English online, in-store, or by calling (801) 484-9100.

Tampa, FL – Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Host: Inkwood Books
Location: St. Mary’s Episcopal Day School Auditorium, 2101 South Hubert Avenue, Tampa
Time: 6:30-8:30pm
Tickets: TBA
Baltimore, MD – Monday, October 18, 2010
Host: Greetings & Readings
Location: Catonsville High School Auditorium, 421 Bloomsbury Avenue, Baltimore
Time: 7-9pm
Tickets: TBA

Pittsburgh, PA – Friday, November 5, 2010
Host: Joseph-Beth Booksellers
Location: Chatham University Campbell Memorial Chapel, 5799 West Woodland Road, Pittsburgh
Time: 7-9pm
Tickets: TBA

Hartford, CT- Monday, November 15, 2010
Host: RJ Julia Booksellers
Location: TBA
Time: TBA
Tickets: TBA

Ridgewood, NJ – Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Host: Books, Bytes & Beyond
Location: George Washington Middle School, 155 Washington Place, Ridgewood
Time: 7-9pm
Tickets: TBA

Miami, FL – Tuesday,  December 7, 2010
Host: Books & Books
Location: Temple Judea, 5500 Granada Boulevard, Coral Gables
Time: 7-9pm
Tickets: TBA

Sue Scheff: Odd Girl Speaks Out: Girls Write about Bullies, Cliques, Popularity, and Jealousy

By Rachel Simmons

The national bestseller Odd Girl Out exposed a hidden culture of cruelty that had always been quietly endured by American girls. As Rachel Simmons toured the country, these girls found their voices and spoke to her about their pain. They wanted to talk, and they weren’t the only ones. Parents, teachers, counselors, and young women came to Rachel with heart-wrenching personal stories that could no longer be kept secret.

Here, Rachel creates a safe place for girls to talk, sound off, and find each other. The result is a collection of deeply personal accounts of the lives of adolescent girls. Candid and disarming, creative and expressive, and always exceptionally self-aware, these poems, songs, confessions, and essays form a journal of American girlhood. They illuminate both the power of cruelty and the inspiring resilience of the girls it has marked. Odd Girl Out helped girls find their voices; Odd Girl Speaks Out helps them tell their stories.

Order on Amazon today.

Follow Rachel on Twitter @RachelJSimmons

Sue Scheff: The Curse of the Good Girl; Raising Authentic Girls with Courage and Confidence

By Rachel Simmons

In The Curse of the Good Girl, bestselling author Rachel Simmons argues that in lionizing the Good Girl we are teaching girls to embrace a version of selfhood that sharply curtails their power and potential. Unerringly nice, polite, modest, and selfless, the Good Girl is a paradigm so narrowly defined that it's unachievable. When girls inevitably fail to live up-experiencing conflicts with peers, making mistakes in the classroom or on the playing field-they are paralyzed by self-criticism, stunting the growth of vital skills and habits. Simmons traces the poisonous impact of Good Girl pressure on development and provides a strategy to reverse the tide. At once expository and prescriptive, The Curse of the Good Girl is a call to arms from a new front in female empowerment.

Order today and empower yourself and your daughter! Check out Rachel's other outstanding books!

Follow Rachel on Twitter @RachelJSimmons

Sue Scheff: Girls Leadership Institute

GLI awakens girls to the full potential of their authentic selves. We work with girls, their families, and school communities through our camps, after-school programs and in-school resources.

Check out this great website full of tips, articles, advice and more! http://www.girlsleadershipinstitute.org/

Sue Scheff: Teenage Girls - Teen Body Image

What a fantastic website and resource for teenage girls!

Source: FitsMi.com

Fitsmi is a place for teen girls who want to make some healthy and lasting changes in their lives. Our approach is that healthy doesn’t have to be boring (right?).

The idea for Fitsmi came from a mom who struggled with her own weight as a teen. (Read her story here.) She realized that solutions like “eating less” and “exercising more” weren’t solutions at all. So, she met with the experts: doctors, clinicians, moms, and, most importantly, teens. Her conclusion? A teen is going to choose a healthy lifestyle when she’s ready. No threats or tough love from anyone make a difference. She has to want it for herself. And once she wants it, she’ll approach it in her own unique way.

This awesome truth formed the website you’re visiting today. (Welcome, by the way!) Currently, we’re in closed beta, which means that we’re only open to a select group of teenage girls. Testing will be happening throughout the site, so if you see some wonky things, feel free to let us know and we’ll try to fix it. Our non-beta subscription site will be coming soon!

Fitsmi offers an ever-growing menu of healthy choices so a girl can find what she likes. Maybe it’s a new style, recipe, routine, or different way of thinking. Whatever she chooses, Fitsmi has tools like personal trackers and expert blogs to help her embrace change and make a difference.
A major part of this experience is Fitsmi’s community of teens, mentors and experienced voices who are always there to cheer her on.

Over time, a teen will know what’s right for her. If she grows tired of the choices she’s made (and who doesn’t?) Fitsmi offers alternatives. New ones every day.

Best of all, Fitsmi is a celebration. No wagging fingers. No lines in the sand. No lectures. There’s a funny side to this, and that’s where you’ll find Fitsmi. After all, change doesn’t have to suck.
If you want to send us feedback on how to make Fitsmi better during our beta stage, you can email us!

Visit FitsMi at http://www.fitsmi.com/ and follow them at Twitter at @FitsMi

Sue Scheff: How To Raise Your Parents

By Sarah Burningham

A Teen Girl's Survival Guide

Being a teen (or the parent of a teen) doesn't have to be so hard. How to Raise Your Parents will help teens and their parents navigate those years between training bras and keys to the family car. In a voice teens will relate to and parents will appreciate, author Sarah O'Leary Burningham offers smart advice about negotiation and parental hot buttons and a little insight about what the world looks like from a parent's point of view.

Buy the book today on Amazon - type the book title or author's name in the Amazon Box on the sidebar.

Learn more about Sarah Burningham at http://sarahburningham.com/ - and check out her new Advice Column for ABC.

Follow Sarah on Twitter at @sarahburningham

Sue Scheff: Laid or Loved? The Secrets Guys Wish You Knew About Being a Dream Girl Instead of a Just-in-his-Jeans Girl

Laid or Loved? The Secrets Guys Wish You Knew About Being a Dream Girl Instead of a Just-in-his-Jeans Girl

By Dr. Jenn

Laid or Loved? is a groundbreaking new self-help book that explores the uncharted territory that young adults face in today’s society. With the advent of new technology and an excess of provocative messages in the media, tweens, teens and their parents are more confused than ever when it comes to dealing with issues from sex to bullies.

Award winning author and speaker, Jennifer Austin Leigh, PsyD (”Dr. Jenn”) includes replies collected from hundreds of young men from around the world who share their secrets of what girls do that gain their love and respect. Their replies may surprise readers of all ages. Dr. Jenn utilizes the latest research in neuroscience, communication and psychology to give girls a clearer understanding of how to gain self-respect in order to make better choices in love, and in life.

Dr. Jenn adds her insights into the unique characteristics of social networking, email, and text messaging and describes how these channels of communication can unintentionally distort the progress of respectful, open-hearted relationships, especially as teens come of age in today’s “anything goes world”.

Find out more information on Amazon - click on the Amazon Box and enter the title!