Don't Fret the Sweat

If you've been following my blog for long, you'll know that my 10 yr old and I ran our first 5K together this last May as part of the Girls on the Run program. It was SO fun, that we've decided to do it again this fall - and we'll be running our next 5K the weekend before Thanksgiving. We can't wait!

But this post isn't about that.

This post is about raising boys and girls in this house. The deal is - dad tells the boys what they need to know, and I tell Wendy what I think she needs to know. We're pretty open about stuff over here, especially considering our Finnish nature. bit the way I figure it, it's just better to keep the discussion lifelines open so they don't ever have to be shy about asking anything. I don't want them to feel like what they are going through is anything embarrassing, or awkward, or that they need to be ashamed of. We're all wired the same way, we all go through the same stages more or less, so why be shy about it?

Wendy embraces my philosophy pretty well. As much as I've tried to slow down her development with hormone-free products, the fact remains - she's growing up.

Just last week she came soaring down the stairs with her nose all wrinkled and a "mooooooooooom" on her lips, followed by - I have a hair IN MY ARMPIT! She's so fun to raise.

It happens to the best of us, right?

While she has a book she can refer to (The Care and Keeping of You) she still looks to me for reassurance and confirmation and NOW WHAT??? From time to time, as she should and as I hope she always feels free to do.

Being that this girl is all about running, and rollerblading, and soccer, and volleyball, and playing hard in general (did I tell you about the leggings she wore through in one day??) we've already had the deoderant talk awhile ago.

In looking for a deoderant for her, first I let her use some Suave* deoderant that I had purchased for myself. Unilever is the leading manufacturer of deoderant and antiperspirants and the makers of Degree® Men, Degree® Women, Degree® Girl, Dove® AND Suave®. Their goal is to ensure that parents and their kids remains cool and confident throughout the day. I switched Wendy over to Degree* Girl the next time I remembered at the store. It's just a little more girly packaged for her overnight bags.

AND - Unilever also has a Facebook page, www.Facebook.com/Don'tFretTheSweat where you can find expert tips, tools and real-life stories about how parents are communicating and transitioning their tweens into confident and self-reliant teens.

No Sweat, Right?

Now as part of this campaign, I'm excited to be able to offer you, my readers, a chance to win a $100 Visa gift card and a Don't Fret The Sweat gift pack. This chance to win is open for a full month, from 10/4 - 11/4/11. You can also check BlogHer for even more chances to win!

Official Rules

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No duplicate comments.

You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry
methods:

a) Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post

b) Tweet about this promotion and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment
on this post

c) Blog about this promotion and leave the URL to that post in a comment on
this post

d) For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about
an alternate form of entry.


This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older

Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail.

You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be
selected.

The Official Rules are available here.