My cousin is 13 now… he lives in the South of France. He is such a smart and thoughtful kid. He speaks 5 languages, cycles over 50 miles a week with his dad, skate boards… and the best part is… he loves his 7 year old twin siblings… he hugs them and stands up for them, he’s the best.

Hope the presentation goes well Caitlin! 🙂

Caitlin this is by far the coolest thing ever! You are such an inspiration to those girls. I wish I went to something like this when I was younger, I had such horrible self esteem, hated my body, my looks, thought I was stupid, list goes on. To have had a book or inspiring notes like you’ve created would have been amazing! When my niece gets a little older, I’m buying her your book.

I’ll be honest, I don’t like the term “tween” at all. Where I’m from (my school environment, at least) it’s used as a derogatory word. But I think that they do represent a lot of the girls we used to be, and I love how much they adore you! I hope you’re having fun 🙂

It is SO AMAZING that you’re spreading the OB message to younger girls. I think stopping fat talk BEFORE it comes overwhelming in high school is so important!! Good luck with your presentation!!

Amazing – I think it’s such a good thing …especially with everything that’s happened recently with the deaths and bullying…is that there are tweens/teens out there who want to change the world for the better!

Good luck Caitlin! What you’re doing is so important.

Wow! This is so exciting! You are such a great example to these teens and all teens!
Yes! There are some good ‘tweens’ out there fortunately who want to change our world!
I am so excited for you to be speaking at all these events. Its wonderful what your doing!!

We have a cute girl in our church who’s parents are addicts and dealers. She comes to church each week because she doesn’t want to end up in that cycle and tells all her friends that they can be different.

Giving a positive influence at that age makes a world of difference!

I don’t know how much she’s inspired me, but I think Taylor Swift is one of the coolest teens in media(is she still a teen even?). She’s always been true to herself and has done a great job of not letting fame go to her head.

All I know is that the tween time is so hard and I am so happy that you are able to reach out and make a difference to these young girls at such an impressionable time.

What a wonderful thing to do. This age is so challenging for girls. I remember struggling so much with my confidence and not always feeling comfortable in my own skin. I think Operation Beautiful will be a great thing for tweens. Should be required reading.

My 13 year old cousin and her 10 year old sister inspire me. They are some of the smartest, most outgoing and caring kids I have ever met. They are so driven it’s almost completely intimidating. My 13 year old cousin worked her butt off last year to raise money to go on a trip to China and has been saving up since she was about 4 to someday go to Australia.
The two of them have created their own mini company, along with their father, to sell cutting boards to one day help pay for college. What youngster even thinks about that? Oh, they do.

I teach 7th grade and I totally agree with you. Most tweens want to make a positive influence on others, not a negative one. I’ve met so many wonderful 12-14 year olds so far.

Love that you are a positive influence!

Kids- and I’m including ‘tweens’ and teens in that category- are so great. I know you’ve said that you’ve never really worked with kids before, so I think it’s great that you’re getting some opportunities to work with them now in such a positive context!

I’ve been doing some substitute teaching while working toward my certification/master’s in elementary ed. The other day, I sat with a fourth-grade class while they ate lunch since I was only with them for the afternoon and had already eaten. One girl started asking me questions about my favorite food and TV channels, and then she told me all about how she likes to watch the Food Network and loves Giada de Laurentiis and wants to go to culinary school.

I thought it was cool that she already has this idea in the fourth grade, but what really amazed me is that this was not at a privileged school. It’s Title I and 89% of its students are on free or reduced lunch. It broke my heart a little bit that this girl was sitting there telling me these things as she ate her school lunch that is very likely paid for by government funding.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that kids tend to say the things you least expect them to say. They are really all amazing and inspiring at some time, even the “bad kids.” It’s just a matter of finding what they can be amazing and inspiring about, I think.

Sorry for that very long comment, haha. I just saw the question at the end of the post and got a little carried away.

Keep doing what you’re doing!

what an awesome event! it’s great how younger kids can be inspiring 🙂

I’m so glad these girls have this great event to go to! I could have used something like this during my tween years!!

That’s so inspiring about those girls starting that site! It’s so sad to hear all these stories in the news lately about teens who have taken their own lives because of bullying. It sounds like what these girls are doing is a great step forward! 😀

I am so jealous! I did just google “tween” to see how old they actually were. Wikipedia says 12, I thought there was a range. My daughter is only 9, yay! I have some more time, time for her to still be young and time to get these great conferences going in the D.C. area.
I know tons of great tweens, I meet them at work where they are my clients and from my kids, and in my neighborhood and I LOVE that we are trying to give them such positive messages.
Duh, my son is 12…..I am so focused on the girls in relation to your post that I totally forgot I LIVE WITH A TWEEN…he will be 13 next month, so I am not so spacey.