Mom Advice on ‘Tweens’

Read Advice from 12 Moms about Question ‘Tween Daughter & Make-up’

Hi All!
Our "tween" daughter has recently started experimenting with make-up. We don't let her wear makeup to school, but we will let her wear it if we go out as a family.

For Thanksgiving she did her hair and put make up on. She did huge round circles of blush on her cheeks and really dark lipstick. I tried to tone down her blush and lipstick, but she commented that she can't see it. I tried to explain that natural colors look good, and she is a beautiful girl and if she wants to wear makeup she sould accent certain areas instead of caking it on. Everyway I tried to show her the correct way she would argue with me and tell me I was wrong. My mother-in-law actually said on Thanksgiving that she looked like a clown and was upset that we let her out of the house like that. I tried to explain to her that Rachel has just started experimenting and she will eventually find the right look for her. I was her age once too and I thought my mom had no idea what she was talking about. So my hubby and I decided we would buy her some makeup more her shades and not so over-powering for Christmas. I was also looking for a makeup application type book for girls her age (tweens or teens) and I can't seem to find anything like that.

Do any of you have any suggestions or know of any books like this?

Read Advice from 10 Moms about Question ‘Child Behavior’

My 10 yr. old neice came to live with me & my husband about 3 years ago. I do not have any children so there is so much I don't know about raising a child. I have many questions but I'll just put this one out there for now. This is about discipline and her behavior. My mom & myself are the only 2 people in her life who discipline her. She seems to think that she is on the same level as we are(adult) For instance, this morning she left the hair streightener on, I told her to go turn it off, & she said "Well I had to turn it off the other day because some one left it on." She and I are the only 2 who use it, so she was trying to imply that I had left it on the other day. I know I didn't because about 5 years ago our house burnt down, so I am very meticulous about turning everything off. And I tried to tell her that just because I was bringing it to her attention to make sure she turns it off, that does not mean that she needs to try to imply that I had left it on too. It's like every time me or my mom tell her something, she tries to turn it around and say that we did something similar to what we are telling her not to do. But that is not the case. I don't know what to do about it. It drives me & my mom nuts. Aslo she will tell us some thing, then a few minutes later she will totally change what she had just said. And we'll tell her,well you just said so & so and she'll say "no I didn't! I said this.." Well we arent total retards! We know what she just told us, but she will try to convince us that she said something totally different!!! It is soooo frustrating. I don't know if this behavior is from her upbringing before she came to live with us or if it is just typical of tweens. Her life before she came to live with us was very disturbing for her. Her mom & dad seperated and her mom got deep into drugs and would go off and leave her for weeks or months at a time with strange people she didn't even know. Now her mother is in jail and has lost all custody and visitation, her dad (my brother) has custody, and I am her legal guardian. If any one out there has any suggestions that may help us please don't hesitate to write me back. I am looking forward to any help I can get. Sorry this was so long, but I thought the more you knew about the situation the better you could help us.