LilSugar

TV Middle School Moments

LilSugar — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 13:00:00 PDT

From first crushes to moral dilemmas and social hierarchies to embarrassing moments, middle school has enough fodder for seasons worth of TV shows. Some networks have hit gold capitalizing on the situations to which everyone can relate! As your tween heads back to school, check out some of my favorites.

Top-Notch Locker Accessories For Your Tween Boy!

babysugar — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 04:00:11 PDT

The last thing a guy wants is to get slammed in his locker! Girls like to glam up their school issued spaces, but boys also benefit from being organized. Help your son personalize his locker with these practical finds.

A dry-erase calendar board ($9) helps a guy keep track of his sports schedule and other extracurricular activities.
A small mesh laundry bag ($3) is a great for tossing worn clothes in and bringing them home for a good wash.
When a smelly gym sock gets buried beneath the books, charcoal odor eaters ($4) will mask the mistake.
Adhesive hooks ($4) are strong enough to hold key chains, hats, and bags, but can be removed without leaving a mark.
Knickknacks and pens get a home with in this magnetic plastic cup ($4).
Magnets ($13) make displaying photos or holding notes a cinch.

Top-Notch Locker Accessories For Tween Girls

babysugar — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 13:00:00 PDT

It's a middle school milestone! All kids want their own locker - a place to store their stuff when they are at school - and tween girls like to put a personal touch on the metal closet to make it extra cool. We've rounded up some fab and affordable items.

A neon wire shelf ($7) adds a pop of color while doubling a locker's storage capacity.
Personalize a mirror from Etsy user jnall3 ($11) with both your child's name and fabric of her choice.
A handful of these bold magnets ($3) hold homework lists, notes, and magazine cutouts of a girl's latest celebrity crush.
This bendable lady ($7) is great for cell phones, keys, and anything else you can hang off her limbs.
Dry erase boards are must haves for any social butterfly, and these colorful whiteboard markers ($2) will let your daughter and her friends express themselves.
Frame decals ($15) add an extra element to photos and can be easily removed when it's time to redecorate.

More Kids Are Coming Out in Middle School

TresSugar — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:00:00 PDT

The middle-school version of ourselves probably had a blurry idea of the adults we would become, but some kids are proving that we knew a lot more about our identities than we thought. With no doubt about who they are attracted to, more and more kids are coming out as gay or bisexual before they make it to high school.

An article in this weekend's New York Times Magazine examines the trend and reveals that many of these kid are coming out before they've ever dated or kissed anyone of either sex. They just know they don't want to date the opposite sex.

The piece profiles Austin, a gay 13-year-old from Oklahoma. To hear what Austin thinks about tweens and teens coming out and the reactions they get,

Austin's experience went something like this:

Austin doesn’t have to play "the pretend game," as he calls it, anymore. At his middle school, he has come out to his close friends, who have been supportive. A few of his female friends responded that they were bisexual. "Half the girls I know are bisexual,” he said. He hadn’t planned on coming out to his mom yet, but she found out a week before the dance. “I told my cousin, my cousin told this other girl, she told her mother, her mother told my mom and then my mom told me," Austin explained. "The only person who really has a problem with it is my older sister, who keeps saying: 'It’s just a phase! It’s just a phase!'"

"It's just a phase" is probably a common reaction to the idea of middle schoolers coming out. But since we would never question a heterosexual adolescent who announces that he or she likes the opposite sex, should we question those who say they're attracted to the same sex? What do you make of all this?

Middle Schoolers Engage in Oral Sex During Math Class

LilSugar — Tue, 20 May 2008 09:00:51 PDT

A substitute math teacher in Connecticut didn't put two and two together. Under her supervision in math class, two eighth grade students at Pulaski Middle School in New Britain engaged in an oral sex act. As classmates watched, one supposedly taped the act on a camera phone. The footage is now rumored to be on YouTube. While the students' conduct was wildly inappropriate, the teacher must have had blinders on. Who do you think is to blame?

At What Age Is Birth Control Appropriate?

DearSugar — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 13:00:00 PDT

Last week, The New York Times broke a story out of Maine in which the Portland school board approved a measure allowing middle-schoolers to gain access to prescription birth control medications without notifying their parents.

With this new ruling, King Middle School not only provides the birth control medications for their students, but their medical clinic also offers immunizations and physical checkups in addition to counseling for sexually transmitted diseases.

While some parents viewed this measure as a violation of parental rights, others felt that it was a necessary precaution to offer protection for kids that were engaging in "risky behavior."

I am sure this article will strike a cord with all you mothers out there, so how would you feel if your child were offered prescription birth control without your consent? And you non-mothers, do you think it's a good idea or a bad idea for middle schoolers to be exposed to birth control at such a young age?

Source

Drug Testing in Public Schools, A Good Idea?

FitSugar — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 03:00:00 PST

We have all heard about random drug testing in our respective places of employment and in professional sports, but what about in public schools?

The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy recently announced that it would be holding four regional summits promoting random student drug testing in public middle and high schools. The program, which has actually already been implemented in almost 1,000 schools across the country, requires that kids submit to random drug testing if they would like to participate in sports and other extracurricular activities. The tests would be looking for cocaine, marijuana, ecstasy, opium-based substances, oxycontin and steroids.

Do you guys think random drug testing in our schools is a good idea?

An Everyday Athlete Is Still an Athlete

espnW — Fri, 18 May 2012 11:59:39 PDT

We are pumped to share one of our fave stories from espnW here on FitSugar!

By Risa Isard

On June 23, 1972, Title IX was signed into law, leveling the playing field for female athletes. To mark the 40th anniversary, espnW explore the impact of this landmark legislation.

You might not know me, but chances are you know someone like me. I'm that girl who grew up playing hoops in the driveway with my dad and brother every night after dinner. The one who played rec soccer for 10 years, starting out on a boys team. The one who persuaded her middle-school gym teacher to let her run the monthly timed mile against boys, then wrote her target time on her arm - in permanent marker. The one who took field day just a little too seriously.

The one who is thankful every day for Title IX.

Counting down the best of the past 40 years

Growing up, I wasn't an elite athlete, but I had passion to spare. I ran, jumped, threw, and kicked on a daily basis and eventually I found my calling in high school track and cross country. I was good (I earned seven varsity letters), but not good enough for the next level.

So when I arrived at Duke nearly four years ago, I found myself wondering something that had never crossed my mind before: was I still an athlete?

Answering that question was no easy task. As I read about various elite athletes, I recognized our shared pasts. Like gymnast Jordyn Wieber, I used to pull old cushions into the middle of the family room and do cartwheels, somersaults, and front handsprings. Like many WNBA stars, I was the only girl in neighborhood basketball games. I lacked their natural ability, but I came to realize that we are connected through dreams and experiences. We all began by thinking of ourselves as athletes and scheduling our lives around sports at a young age. That doesn't just go away.

Read on for more.

Overall Overhaul: 10 Pairs to Channel '90s Nostalgia With a New Twist

Hannah Weil — Fri, 18 May 2012 09:29:26 PDT

Like jumpsuits and rompers, we're drawn to overalls not just because we have a soft spot for our middle-school style, but because they're a no-fuss, one-piece wonder that makes dressing easy - and we always love that. In traditional denim, cooler military hues, and even pastels, overalls are equal parts relaxed wardrobe staple and a little fashion-forward; it's all about how you choose to wear them. Style them up with your favorite sneakers, wedges, or even pointed-toe pumps: just find the pair that suits you best. To that point, we've rounded up 10 of our favorites - click on to see and shop the styles we're loving right now.

Upcoming Cannes Films Take New Looks at World's Oldest Profession

Annie Scudder — Tue, 15 May 2012 02:00:27 PDT

A young Japanese student who sells herself to pay for school gets hired by an elderly academic. A middle-aged Austrian woman travels to the beaches of Kenya looking for young African men to fall in love with, or at least sleep with. Two new films to be shown at the upcoming Cannes Film Festival will feature these very different scenarios starring the world's oldest profession. If you enjoy exploring human relationships through the lens of foreign films, here's why you might want to keep Paradise: Love and Like Someone in Love on your radar.

In Ulrich Seidl's Paradise: Love, Teresa is a 50 year-old Austrian mom with a teenage daughter. On her tropical African vacation to Kenya, Teresa goes from one "beach boy" to the next looking for a fulfilling fling, only to realize her encounters are merely business transactions. The filmmaker, Ulrich Seidl, researched for two years in Kenya, where some locals say one in five single female tourists from rich countries come looking for sex, and the movie stars actual working "beach boys" from the area. Paradise: Love promises to examine the business behind this unusual sex tourism and the influence of age, gender, and skin color on the market value of sexuality. Below is a slightly NSFW clip from the film.

Taking us from the beaches of Kenya to a home in Tokyo, Like Someone in Love gives viewers a more familiar premise. An elderly academic hires a young female student to have sex with him at his home. Few specific details are known about the film, by Iranian director and Cannes veteran Abbas Kiarostami, but the synopsis promises that the "web that is woven between them in the space of 24 hours bears no relation to the circumstances of their encounter." The trailer, with Ella Fitzgerald's voice appropriately singing "Like Somebody in Love" over the intriguing scenes, definitely draws you into what looks like a complex tale of relationships. Watch the trailer for Like Someone in Love below.