Values Archives - Page 3 of 5

How to Avoid an Awkward Car Ride

“Hi honey, how are you?” “Fine.” “That’s good! How was school today?” “Fine.” “Did anything interesting happen?” “No”. Does this conversation sound familiar to

To Sleep Over Or Not To Sleep Over—That Is The Question

By Dannah Gresh, founder of True Girl Some of my best memories with my mom happened at sleepovers she hosted in our home. I can

How Do I Talk to My Daughter About DRUGS & ALCOHOL?

By Dannah Gresh, founder of True Girl

It's time for me to tell a story that I didn't think I would ever share publicly. My hometown is being rocked by the death of a Penn State student, who would be alive today were it not for alcohol. My heart breaks for the parents as they face this horrific reality. The lives of students who were drinking with him, as well as those hazing him, are also forever changed. They are facing steep legal charges that will change the trajectory of their lives. I know the parents of some of those boys, bringing this all the closer home to my heart. None of them ever expected to be in this situation. I'm sorry that they are, and I'm praying for them often.

The grand jury report said that conduct in a "permissive atmosphere fostered by the Pennsylvania State University Interfraternity Council" led to Piazza's death. Penn State defends itself stating that "has one of the most aggressive student misconduct policies in the country and its off-campus policy pertaining to misconduct remains the most vigorous in the Big 10." Policies are only useful if they are enforced. As a parent of a Penn State grad, I'm grateful for many things about the university, but found it to fall woefully short in enforcing any kind of responsible and legal behavior for students when it came to alcohol. Here's my story and some things you should know about preparing your child.

Five Ways To Fight-Free Prom Dress Shopping

By Dannah Gresh, Founder of True Girl

Other moms told me that raising my two girls to embrace modesty would come with tears of anger and fits of rage at the mall. That wasn't really my experience. I have a lot of warm, wonderful Shop Til We Drop memories. That doesn't mean every moment was easy. (After all, those super short American flag shorts sure were cute!) In spite of my "just-say-no-to-super-short-shorts" shopping expertise and two amazingly enjoyable girls who always pressed into wisdom at the mall, nothing could have prepared us for the labyrinth of mother/daughter challenge that is PROM DRESS SHOPPING! I'm blonde, but it took me no time at all to realize that I needed a plan to avoid the "fight your way to a prom dress" method, so my husband and I developed a team effort to approach prom dress shopping "fight free" each year. I did this with TWO teen daughters and I have warm and wonderful memories of our prom dress experiences.

Here are five ways to approach prom dress shopping fight-free. And below those I'm going to also share five specific websites where you can get the ideas rolling. These are five must-explore websites when starting your modest prom dress shopping.

Seven Great Swimsuit Websites

By Dannah Gresh, Founder of True Girl Finding an appropriate swimsuit might seem like an impossible task. It could even be a recipe for a

How Do I Talk to My Daughter About Disappointment?

By Dannah Gresh, Founder of True Girl

She tried out but didn't make the team. She did her best and still lost. An adult she admired let her down. Exciting plans fell through. Her BFF broke a promise.

It's time to talk about it straight up, but how? Sometimes as a mom, I feel absolutely paralyzed by the pain of watching my children face disappointment. Quite frankly, I hate it and want to just manipulate circumstances to shield them but that would only make the hurt worst. Disappointments are a part of life. Forever. It is important that we equip our daughters with the ability to remain stable in such circumstances, as opposed to shielding her from them. Otherwise, the winds of this world will blow them away in their adult years. Here are four simple tips.