Luna's Blog

Hi Everyone,

Thank you so much for all of your letters!  I love answering questions, and I hope that I can be helpful to each and every one of you!

I’d like to talk about an issue that is a problem for many girls that I talk to:  Feeling Left Out.  There are many times a girl may feel left out, and here are just a few:

• You might feel left out of a lunch table conversation when you don’t know what people are talking about and everyone else seems to be having a good time.

• You may feel left out because you didn’t get invited to a party or a sleep-over.

• Or maybe you didn’t make the traveling soccer team, and all your friends did, even the ones who aren’t as good as you.  That could make you feel left out.

• Your body may be less developed than your friends’ bodies.  They may be getting taller, or getting bras, or even getting their periods—and you may still have no curves whatsoever. That can make you feel left out, even if your mom reassures you that you’ll catch up to them pretty soon.

• Or your body may be more developed than your friends.  That can make you feel left out too.

• Your best friend may “dump” you and be best friends with someone else.  That can definitely give you a left out feeling.

Lots of times a girl feels like something’s wrong with her if she feels left out—like she’s “weird” or “unpopular” or “not good enough.” So what can you do?  How can you help yourself feel better, even if you feel left out?

Here’s how one girl helped herself feel better—and hopefully her ideas will help you find a way to feel better too!

Angie is 13 and knows what it means to feel left out. Her best friend Dara decided to be friends with a girl who has never been nice to Angie.  Sometimes the 3 girls hang out together, and when this happens, Angie feels “invisible” because Dara and the other girl laugh about secret things. Once they were all at the mall and the 2 girls left Angie to get a cookie—and never came back!  Angie had to go home alone.

Angie said, “That was it for me.  I knew I had to do something, but I didn’t know what to do. Then I talked to some other friends who felt Dara had changed—that she wasn’t the same person when she was with the other girl.  So that gave me an idea—I decided to branch out and be close friends with other girls.  I still consider Dara my closest friend because we’ve known each other since Kindergarten, but if she’s hanging out with the other girl, I just make plans with other friends. It just feels better that way.”

So take a tip from Angie—if you feel left out in a situation, try to hang out with people who help you feel included, wanted, and likeable just the way you are!

All best wishes,
Jill

Do you have more questions about what you should do in situations that stress you out? Ask Jill by clicking here, she’ll answer a new question each week!

Check out more advice that Jill has given to New Moon Girls members on Ask Jill!

Are you having fun recommending movies for the first-ever NMG Girls’ Choice Movie Awards? If you haven’t yet, take our survey at NewMoon.com—look for it in the blue “Get Involved” box.

Want some inspiration for movies that show girls as smart, brave, adventuring, creative, and wonderful people? Then check out these movies! You should be able to find them at libraries or online movie services. Remember, your favorites can be new or old. As always, you and your family can best decide what movies are right for you to watch. We’ll announce the favorites in our July/August 2012 issue and online.

A Mighty Girl focuses on movies and books that are great for girls—visit www.amightygirl.com to see them all. Here’s a sampling:

• Castle in the Sky
• Jane and the Dragon
• Flipped
• 4 Little Girls
• Phoebe in Wonderland
• Come Away Home
• The Secret of Roan Inish
• Ever After
• Nim’s Island
• Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior
• The Mighty Macs
• Bend it Like Beckham

Hi, girls!

We’re making some changes Shout Out Message Boards soon, and I wanted to tell you what’s going to be happening and why!

1.  We have started “locking” topics that have not been posted to for 60 days or more, and will eventually be archiving those topics. This means that you will no longer be able to post new messages on those threads. Why: The large number of topics makes it harder for girls to find current topics because there are so many in each forum. It takes computer space to maintain all of the old topics, so we also want to keep space open for all the new topics you girls come up with!

2.  You will soon see a post at the top of every topic letting you know the appropriate subjects for this particular message board, and it will include the link to the Respect Differences Policy. Remember that it is OK to have different opinions from other girls – we can still be supportive of each other even if we don’t agree. Off-topic posts will either be removed or moved to a different topic.

3.  All role-play topics will be posted in Random Stuff. If there are role-plays in other forums, they will be moved to Random Stuff starting the first week of May. This is to help keep appropriate topics in the forums they should go in, and avoid confusion of where some topics should go. We know that there has been disagreement about where some of the role-playing topics belong, and while we know that some of you will disagree with this decision, the NMG staff thought this was best for all of our NMG members. It is okay if you disagree with this decision, and for you to express your opinions about it, but it is not something we will change our minds about at this point in time.

We made this decision because we thought it was best for all of our NMG members, and it is not about anyone winning or losing.. It is important that you all move on with grace and maturity; win/lose language is not acceptable and not respectful of others. It does not help to focus on taking sides. We hope you can all leave those arguments in the past and move forward, so Shout Out! can be a fun place for everyone to express themselves and their opinions respectfully.

We are all part of one community and even when we disagree, it is important that we respect each other and each other’s opinions. Help us to keep Shout Out a place for all of our members to express themselves, talk with each other, and learn from each other.

Love,

Luna and the NMG Staff