Social Network for Girls

Knowing that they can’t shield their daughters from Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter, three East Bay moms have launched an interactive, safety-conscious website, Girl Ambition, specifically for tween girls.

Author:: Rachael Herrscher
Updated:: Dec 18, 2018
Original:: Aug 20, 2009

By Martha Ross

Knowing that they can’t shield their daughters from Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter, three East Bay moms have launched an interactive, safety-conscious website, Girl Ambition, specifically for tween girls.

“We started talking to other parents and realized that every single person knows someone where something scary has happened online to their kids,” says CEO Hilary DeCesare of Danville, a former Oracle manager and mother of an 11-year-old girl.

But, Girl Ambition isn’t just a cyber-safety primer for kids and their parents. It is also designed to boost girls' self-esteem through games, videos, and a TV show—starring DeCesare’s spirited daughter, Dani. Ten-year-old Samantha Bell of Lafayette likes the TV episodes where Dani tries working as an elephant trainer and swims with dolphins: “A lot of the things she does are really cool.”

For more information, visit girlambition.com.

Published: Diablo, July 2009

Author bio: Martha Ross is an associate editor at Diablo magazine, and a mom.

Even before she got the Malia Obama election-night boost, Bernadette Reiss had cemented her position as the designer of choice for tween girls who need a special-occasion outfit.

Like most dance schools, Funkmode’s classes are mostly packed with girls. But we were impressed that the Pleasant Hill school offers one of the most unique dance classes around. It’s for boys only and teaches them to break-dance.

#LikeAGirl Video

If you haven't seen this video yet, it's high time, and while you're at it, grab your tweens and sit them down right next to you.

online safety and askfm for teens

The newest platform teens are using to have fun, interact, ask silly questions, and also horribly bully other children.

Batman swoops in, shocking his enemies and knocking them ferociously to the ground. This scene sizzles on screen. However, played out by four-year-old boys eager to feel powerful, it quickly ends in tears.

Making small choices about life and living with them is a crucial process for children. How else can they make their own determination about situations and then reflect on how their decisions worked out?

Most parents don’t subscribe to the “sink or swim” approach today when it comes to water safety—or the variety of other activities they make available to their children.

Baby Turtle may not be a mutant or a ninja, but he is the star of an action-packed new children’s book by a pair of East Bay authors.