What CELL?

Has your daughter lost her cell phone? If yes, she's not alone. Over the weekend, we asked the AllyKatzz if they ever lost their cell phones... Above are the poll results. And here's what they said:

“Yesh, more than once! I lost it t a basketball game... and some how it was found in the boys bathroom.. There's many more but none as funny as that !"

“I always loose my cell phone. I've had mine for about two years now. The worst part about whenever I loose my cell is that It's usually not charged up so I can't borrow my mom's phone and hear the ringing! Then after I find my phone, (which I always do) I loose the charger!”

“i have once then i did a second time and actually it went through the washing machine :D”

If you're a parent, love to hear your stories.
If you're an inventor, I'd be thinking... "hmmmmmm"
If you're a marketer with a product that helps them find their lost phones, call me!

Posted by Denise Restauri

Tween Girls Forge?

We asked tween girls if they ever forge their parent's signatures...



What makes tween girls forge our signatures? AllyKatzz girls tell us why and how...

"i did cause my mom said to cause she was 2 busy 2 do it her self."

"yes i have alot cuz im really 4getful n at my old skool u had 2 get every test sined n i would always 4get so i would forge a signature "


"one time i got a dentition and forged my dad's handwriting "

"I admit, I did tat once in 6th grade. I had this horrible gym teacher, and I always forget stuff like that, so she said that if I didn't bring it in the next morning, I'd have to run 2 miles around the gym. Yeah. So, like me, I forgot. I was completely freaking out (I can't run for very long, I have trouble breathing and one time I passed out, but the teacher wouldn't listen.) and my mom wouldn't answer her phone, so my friend and I went down to the bathrooms and I copied my mom's signature perfectly. the teacher didn't suspect a thing. I know it was wrong... but I'm never going to do that again! I was so scared I'd get caught ALL throughout gym. That was like the worst feeling ever."

"Oh my god yes! Too many times! Lol, I know it's not exactly a laughing matter, but it is kinda funny! I even got to go see a concert by this one band. It was fun, but I did feel really guilty afterwards. =("

"only once!!! and it was becuz i had to have it done and i didnt get a chance to ask my mom that day thats the only reason!! only once and id never do it agian! "

My Daughter Would Never Lie to Me

Or would she? The AllyKatzz girls tell us the truth.


Posted by Denise Restauri

Do Girls Break Parents' Rules?

And here's what they're saying:

"sumtimes bcuz im mad or hormones get the best of me."

"I don't. Does that mean I don't have a life? "

"why???? all there doing is keeping u safe..?????? like whats the point?????!?!?!"

"I don't becausse I don't kno the consequences!

What do Tween Girls Think about Lindsay Lohan?

A year ago, here’s what allykatzz girls were saying about Lindsay Lohan:
“lindsay lohan is my fave actress and singer! shes so pretty shes so good in all her movies!!!!!!!!!!!!”







Here's what tween girls are saying about Lindsay Lohan TODAY:

• Love her always: 4%
• Like her: 14%
• She's so yesterday: 15%
• She's just so downright yucky: 29%
• Really, who cares? 38%

"I heard she went to jail, along with Nicole Richie and Paris Hilton. Totally, those three are "Witches of Eastwick" casting spells on people for "fans". Totally old school.”

"Really, Who cares about her? She's just one of those "old child actress's who turned tabloid material" I used to really like her but now I don't really care about her"

"i liked her in the parent trap. but now shes gone bad. i really think her movies r gettin worse. (and does she really think she can sing?!?)"

Tomorrow, Thursday, at 11 am EST, I’ll be on "Top Priority" for ABC News Now, ABC News' 24-hour broadband news service. "Top Priority" is a 15-minute live show that focuses on women's issues. Tomorrow’s segment is about parents talking to tweens about adult issues… including celebrity scandals. Hope you'll join us.

Posted by Denise Restauri

FRIENDS or DAD?

We asked AllyKatzz.com tween girls...
Would you rather have a Picnic with Your Friends OR... a Day with Dad?


The results: 55% are going on a picnic with friends and 45% are hanging with dad. Here are the thoughts behind the votes:


"It's a little harsh to spend a day with your friends than with your dad, but it SO much funner!"

"Picnic. My dad and I would have nothing to do. We just go shopping if he needs to, go to the animal sheter, and swim. A picnic would take an hour. So I could do both!"

"i would rether have a dad with my dad because you will always have friends but you will not always have a dad "

"my dad is awesome!! but my friends rock too!! it was so hard to choose. i chose dad, but i'd love to do both!! "

"i nvr see my dad and i allways miss him so i would love to spend a day with that!"

":((( I wish i could have a day with dad "

"dad is everything to us....any1 who didi'nt lyk ur dad...try 2 get close with them.....it will be the best thing u ever made "

"i would like to do both because i never get to spend time with my dad and we have a really hard time bonding but i want to spend time with my friends because i have the same problem with them i cant bond or anything so both kinda"

Posted by Denise Restauri

Is Her Weekly Reader REALLY People Mag???

Article in NYT on Sunday, May 27:
Grade-School Girls, Grown-Up Gossip
What happens when her weekly reader is People?

The article is about tween girls - how they get grown-up gossip and what they do with it.

In the article:
Picture #1: 5 tween girls. Each girl is engrossed in one of these magazines: People, InTouch, Life, US and Star.

Picture #2. 2 girls reading an adult celebrity tabloid. The caption: READ ALL ABOUT IT Arielle Urvater, left, 11, and her sister Jessie, 8, of Manhattan are quite aware of the tabloid antics of Paris, Lindsay, Britney and their ilk, but that does not mean they approve. “We’re well educated,” Arielle explained. “We know that drugs aren’t good and that smoking isn’t good.”

Is this reality or is this about a handful of girls that make a story for a holiday weekend?

Last night, we posted a pulse check poll on allykatzz.com… a community of 30K tween girls from across the nation - to find out where tween girls REALLY get their celebrity gossip. The results:

1. Tween/Teen Magazines including Twist, J-14 and Tiger Beat: 55%

2. Adult Magazines including People, US, Star and InTouch: 29%

3. Online: 16%

Here are samples of the comments the girls posted along with their votes: These sample comments are from tween girls ages 10-13… from NYC, Oregon, Ohio and Washington.

“Yeah I picked Tiger Beat/Bop. It tells me info on stars I like, not just a million ones I dont know that well. Plus, its not as big of a gossip thing as the other teen magazines. People, US, and mags like that talk about adults I dont know, so i dont read those! And the Internet lies a lot...~~CiAo”

“PEOPLE! all the way!!”

“watz STAR??”

“J-14, I have a subscription. It has good posters, a calender, and plenty of news on people I actually know. So what if it's not the most accurate, it's a good read!”

“im not that into celeb gossip. but when i want to hear it i get it online or on the news. it can be interesting sometimes!”

Posted by Denise Restauri

I'm a FAiLuRe

Pressures girls put on themselves to be super girls.
Where do they get it from? From their teachers? From their parents? Safe bet: they aren’t born thinking, “I must get into Harvard!” They get mixed messages from the adults in their lives every day. About their weight, their looks, their accomplishments. So the next time you tell the tween girl in your life to “Just do your best!... mean it and STOP there. Hopefully this AllyKatzz blog from a 13-year-old girl from Alabama, will make us all think twice before we add, “Because you aren’t going to get into Harvard with YOUR grades.”

"I'm a Failure. I feel lyk a failure right now. Okay see at my school at the end of each year we have an award ceramony. Well today was the last day and all year I work on my grades cuz I wanted to make straight A's.I QUIT BASKETBALL FOR IT!!!!!!! Well 2day the principal was giving out the A-honor roll awards. I DIDN'T GET IT!!! I got on the A-B honor roll award. Now I feel lyk a failure. Y? Cuz I did my best!! I DID MY HARDEST!! And my hardest. My best isn't good enough!!! How in the world am I supposed to get in to SOSU and Alabama Crimson Tide. If I'm on the A-B Honor Roll?? They look back all the way to the 7th grade. THATS THE GRADE I'M IN!!! So now I know what a failure feels lyk. I'm sooo sad. Any advice??? bye. and no I'm not saying PEACE OUT! Cuz I'm not at peace right now. so goodbye."

Responses from AllyKatzz girls:

“Thats REALLY GOOD!!!!!!!!!! You shouldn't flip like that!!! Its still honors! I got a F in math a few quarters ago because of the teacher. Its a long story but I promised myself it wouldn't happen again. Now I get strait "A'S"!!!! I have a 100 in math class now! So don't juge yourself so harshly from one grade. ~~~ They look back to 7th grade??? OMG! R U sirious? I wanna get into YALE!!! Shoot... ANyway. Think about it. ” By a 12-year-old girl from Connecticut.

“You are so not a failure! Some kids do terrible! Getting c's, d's and f's! This one kid at my school flunked 7th grade, you are not a failure!” By a 12-year-old girl from Nevada.

“trust me you are not a failure. Think of how much worse it could be you could be one of the people that tries their hardsest and still only comes up with a C. I'm an A-B student too and all my friends are A's so I feel really low on the totem poll when we all get our math tests back but trust me it will get better I can guarantee it. Also if you want to get into a good college I suggest doing lots of extracurricular stuff or find a sport that you really excel at.” By a 14-year-old girl from New Hampshire.

“Hey, that's not being a failure. A failure is straight F's! An A-B honnor is good, really good. At least you're not trying out for Hartford!” By an 11-year-old girl from Wisconsin.

Posted by Denise Restauri

Think You've Had a Bad Day?

When you think you've had a bad day or a bad week, try to remember that our tween girls have a lot to deal with in their worlds. We really need to LISTEN to what they are saying... like these stories... straight from their allykatzz.com blogs...

"i dont feel good... ok yeah well i went to the doctor and they made me wait in there for a hour and a half and then they looked at my ears and it was all red and crummy and so they made me wait another hour for something and then they gave it to me and then it took about another hour in cvs to get my medicine and so i was like all worn down and whiny. and then we got home and amy wouldnt stop gripping at me, and my stepdad is in the worst mood. he is like, IM SO SICK AND TIRED OF PEOPLE NOT DOING WAHT THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO DO! YALL GIRLS ARE SO IRRESPONSIBLE! WHHEN I SAY CLEAN THE POOL AND LIVING ROOM U CLEAN IT! THATS IT UR GROUNDED! And i am like HUHLLLOOO IM SICKKK!!! and so im extremely grumpy and my mom wont listen to me becacuse "she doesnt have time to listen to me grip, because she has billls to pay and why must she carry all this weight on her tiny shoulders" ugggh!!!! im tired of all this! i wish everything was perfect! and then like my real dad wont answer his phone! and so i dont have anyone to vent to and i mean kaci wont listen cuz she is like somewhere and amy is weird and jace is gone and my older brother is in collage! agggggggh!!"

Are tween girls picked on for their smarts? "It's fun to be smart, right? Knowing that you'll always do your best and have friends in your classes and such. But then there's the kids who are 'less smart' or just don't try as hard as they could, and that usually leads to [smart kids] getting picked on and made fun of, because you're 'brainy'. Has this ever happened to you? I know it has to me plenty of times, and it doesn't help that I wear glasses, either. But I enjoy school, and I think they should too, so just ignore them, or 'kill them with kindness' my mom always tells me, and eventually they'll bug off."

My life sucks... "i really need some advice on cheering myself up. cuz i feel like giving up on trying. my friends aren't in my class and at lunch ppl just randomly look at me and whisper to each other. i don't wanna hear ppl say to just ignore it, caz i just can't. almost every night in my bed i just break down and cry. i don't know what to do. and it's not just school it's at home too caz my grandpa alwayz teases me and i just can't take it (plus he critzices me and my dad all the time). nobody likes me and i only have two frndz and i barly ever see them. i reely need advice on living life, caz i wanna quit.help me plz (i've even gone goth inside)."

Boys confuse our tween girls big time. "One day they like you the next they dont... How are you supposed to know??????????????? This guy that i like my best friend likes to and he is so complicated and its like OMG can he make up his mind because one day he likes me the next he likes her...We both call him Mr. complicated!!!"

Mi~own~lil~lalaland. When your tween girl appears to be in LaLaLand, listen closely… she may actually be there!
"at my school, appearance was everything. what you wore, what you looked like, your weight, your bffs and your bfs, thats all that mattered. no one cared about anything else. you were always judged by your appearance, and if you didn't make a good impression, people would look down on you. now i'm the kinda girl that would be looked down upon. i wasn't pretty, i was nerdy, hung out with the smart kids, a band geek, had no guy friends. i was not near popular at school. one day i hear an announce ment that the first school dance was next friday. "ok," i thought. "nothing big." but then i get asked to the dance by a jock. whoa. i was in total and complete shock. i could not believe my ears. of course i accepted! so i met him at the dance, and he had bought a rose for me. i had never had anything like that happen to me before, and i was already in high school! soon enough, a slow song came on and he asked me to dance. i was like, "omg im dreaming this, someone wake me up before i actually think its true. " i never woke up, so i danced all night and partied with my date, and finally when it was time to leave, i got a kiss from him. my first kiss ever. i could not wait to tell my friends about the dance! but then again this all happened in mi~own~lil~lalaland"

Posted by Denise Restauri

FAB AllyKatzz.com Safety Review

Ken Cooper, creator of Family WebWatch gave AllyKatzz a great review... including: "College students are hired to monitor every bit of information that is being transmitted on its site. So you won’t find any photos with provocative poses or trash talk. Finally, a site that gets it!" Please check it out!

Posted by Denise Restauri

Tween Girls Blog About VT

How are tween girls making sense out of the senseless Virginia Tech massacre? Should we talk about it with our girls? What do we tell them?

Here’s a reality check: If you think you’re protecting your tween girl by NOT talking about it, you’re so wrong. Girls are talking and thinking about it and if you don’t talk to them, they’ll go to their favorite information source… their friends. Think about the telephone game that goes like this: Girl #1 says, “Betty and Veronica are best friends.” By the time it gets to Girl #10, the message is, “Betty plays the harmonica and she stinks!” Imagine what happens to information that is mind boggling to start with. Tween girls need to hear it from YOU.

Here’s what tween girls are saying – straight from their allykatzz.com blogs:

“wow. to horrible for words. i bet this whole thing could have been prevented too. Colombine could have been. You know why that happened? Bulling. Im sure that some days, we all feel so bad that we just want to pick on other weaker kids at our school, but.....one thing leads to another.....which leads to another. Then, before you know it, the whole school is picking on that one kid… seriously girls. if you are being bullied,IGNORE THEM!!! and to all you bullies out there, stop. immediatly. You are to weak to take the conciquenses. Yes. I did just call you weak bully. Bullies are increadibly weak. In fact, in 5th grade i was bullied so much. When i went to middle school, those bullies went from being popular, to having no friends at all. I was more confident too. Maybe the shooter at VT was bullied too… stop the bulling NOW. Do you want your school to be the next massacre of innociount people?” age 13, CA

WARNING: before talking to your tween girl, you must deal with your own angers and fears. This is from a 10-year-old girl from VA. Not the message we want to give our tween girls:
“My mom sent an E-mail to one of the radio dudes and she told him that my sisters and I would not go to college unarmed that we would have a gun with us and that she would rather have us expelled than killed”

Bad information gets worse when it includes bad messages like the one in this blog: dump your boyfriend and he may kill you. (We didn’t post this blog on allykatzz.com.) This is from a 15 year-old tween girl: “A south Korean guy killed 32..yes THIRTY-TWO people...He was a senior at Virgina Tech and can you guess why he killed 32 people? Becuase his GF dumped him for sum1 else!! Yep...crazy isn't it...then he killed himself! He first killed his ex-GF and her friend in the dorms then went across the campas which is half a mile to look for the guy. He culdn't find him so he killed 30 other people.”

Posted by Denise Restauri

A Day In HER Tween Life

This is a great way to strike up a fun conversation with your tween daughter. Read it together and share your favorite parts of this tween girl's day.

“2day waz national gay day at school and we actually observed it!!! isn't that crazy!! also my dad got in a car accident(so show some love) but i'm pretty sure he's alright!!i hope!!!! also my friend katie got grounded 4 chipping her tooth isn't that STUPID!!!!so yeah...that stinks!!!lets see what else...oh i like failed my math quiz but doesn't everybody every now and then!!but anyway i like stink at math...and tommorow i have a math test like i hate math big time but my mom says that as long as i try my hardest she doesn't really care!!!isn't that showing signs of being an awesome mom...of course it is!!! why cuz she jus is an awesome mom!!! i actually have a pretty cool brother too...SERIOUSLY!!!he's awesome!!well that's about it for today!!love yall!!” … age 13 from Pennsylvania
Posted by Denise Restauri

Tween Girls Say What?

Adult: "What happened in school today?"
Tween Girl: "Nothing."
Adult: "Really, nothing happened?"
Tween Girl: "Yep, nothing."
End of conversation.


Tween Girls Say What? is your ultimate daily guide to what tween girls are REALLY saying, thinking, doing and dreaming – straight from their allykatzz.com blogs (with permission). Boys, fashion, celebrities, school, parents, siblings, mean girls, best friends, books, movies, music and everything tween – I’ll unwrap it all and deliver it daily. You’ll be amazed to find out what “nothing” really means.

Posted by Denise Restauri