Top 10 Tips for the Smart Girl-Child

Ok, I lied. There are really only five tips here. But honestly, no one wants to read one long-ass post of tips. Plus, this should be a joint-mama effort so please add your tips in the comments area to round out the list and inform us even further.

These tips are just a few of the things that it would have been nice to be more aware of during my own tween/teen years.

1) Don’t know? You better ask somebody. It’s the 21st century. There are a thousand different ways to get accurate information and knowledge. Not sure about something? Use your resources! Ask someone who knows, call a hotline, Google it, visit a library, watch PBS, and read, read, read. Ignorance may be bliss, but it’s not gonna help you when the time comes to bake a cake, balance a budget, or escape a bear attack.

2) Following the crowd will only get you as far as the crowd is able to go. It’s no secret, the crowd is full of dummies. You’re following them, they’re following someone else, and 9 times out of 10 the person at the front is an idiot. Think for yourself. You already have what it takes.

3) Treat your body with respect or it may just flip you off and give up. At this very moment, your body is doing about two-dozen functions on its own (i.e. without you even realizing it) that are keeping you alive. Heart beating? Check. Internal organs "organing"? Check! Brain regulating and keeping all systems running? Check! Breathe much? Check!

All this and the only thing your body asks is that you feed it the things to keep it strong and healthy, exercise occasionally and cherish it with love and affection. It's not hard to do those things. It IS hard to run up 3 flights of stairs when the elevator is broken and you're late for an appointment, after you haven't exercised in 5 years.

4) Love the body you have, not the one you wish you had. If you show any woman over the age of 30 a picture of her herself as a teenager she will probably marvel at how fit, toned and healthy she looks in the picture. Problem is, most of us spent our teen years hating our bodies and wishing we had better ones. Too bad we weren’t just enjoying our strong, energetic young bodies back then, instead of hating them. Now many of us are busy wishing we had those bodies back. See? It never ends! Don’t waste your time doing that.

5) Listen to your gut! The best advice you're ever going to get comes from the last place you'd expect. It comes from you! You know when a situation is not good because the tight knotted or queasy-swirly feeling in your gut tells you so. If something "doesn't feel right", it's probably not. So take your own advice and get the heck outta there.

And that's the list.

Got more smart girl-child tips? Add ‘em in the comments, area. Sharing is caring.