The creators of New Moon Girls magazine have created a new social networking site for tween girls ages 8-12. It’s NewMoonGirls.com. The company calls it “a safe, secure and advertisement-free social network where girls can discover, create their own media, and share it with each other.” I wouldn’t call it completely commercial-free since they do advertise their own products, but it is a pretty slick site for young girls.

Like most social networking sites, NewMoonGirls.com provides girl with their own profile page. It’s called “My room.” On “My room” girls can include a picture and an “About Me” section along with “My Dreams” and “My Inspiration” as well as “My Favorites” and “My Pet.” When girls create this page it asks them for their first name only, their age, their country and state. No more information then that. So unlike MySpace, you won’t have to worry about them including their telephone, address or school information (assuming they don’t put that in the About Me section).

Girls can also add their own creations, including video or a song that they created and their own artwork (a picture, drawing or cartoon). They can also write a poem or a story. And they get the choice of either having their creations open to the public for the whole network or keeping them private so she’s the only one who can see it (like a diary). There is a section called “Voices” where you can find poems, stories and videos uploaded by other girls.

The “Voices” section also includes some Q&A. The Ask a Girl feature lets girls ask for advice and other girls provide the answers. This is monitored by an adult editor who reads every post before making it public. There’s also an Ask Luna section which seems to be kind of like a letters to the editor section where you can get answers to questions about the website and magazine.

To round it out, there is a Features tab that includes tons of information young girls care about. The Spotlight section includes books reviews, current events and special features. Changing the World gives girls information on how they can help the environment and participate in politics. In Body & Feelings girls can get accurate information about their bodies including info on body image, mood swings, puberty, her first period, and more. For the Curious includes interesting math and science facts and information. Arts & Culture let’s girls experience different cultures with stories from girls around the world. And the Sister to Sister page allows teen girls 13 and older offer advice to their younger “sisters.”

I’ve been poking around the site for a while and I’m pretty impressed. NewMoonGirls.com is fully COPPA-compliant and they provide adult moderation at all levels of communication. It’s a great way for young girls to learn about social networking in a safe environment. They can share their creativity, make new friends, and learn from other girls all over the world. And right now NewMoonGirls.com is offering a membership package including full access to NewMoonGirls.com and six issues of New Moon Girls magazine for $29.95 per year, reduced from $44.95. This might make a good holiday gift for that special tween girl in your life.

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As of Tuesday night my 16-year-old is officially a licensed driver. He completed driver’s ed, got his certificate of completion and headed to the Department of Transportation for the real thing. My husband had to give consent. Then they took our son’s picture and gave him a license to operate a motor vehicle. And now I’m somewhere between scared to death and being proud of him.

In our state you get an intermediate license when you are only 16. The intermediate license has a few restrictions. He cannot drive between the hours of 12:30am and 5am. He needs to complete 10 more hours of supervised driving with a parent or family member over the age of 21 and at least 2 of those hours need to be after sunset and before sunrise. And he must have his intermediate license for at least 12 months before he can get an unrestricted full license.

That’s all fine and dandy, but what do parents get? They should at least hand out aspirin for the headaches we get worrying about our driving teens. Life seemed so much easier when they were toddlers and the only thing they drove were those plastic walkers.

We are getting ready for a family vacation. On our way to Thanksgiving dinner yesterday afternoon we were joking with the 16-year-old about how he was going to drive us all the way to Florida. He said, “Oh cool. This is where Grand Theft Auto comes in handy.” A look of fear crossed my face as he tried to explain. “I mean, in the game you have to drive your car and you have to watch the map in the lower right hand corner. It’s training for driving and keeping an eye on the GPS.”

Needless to say, I think my husband and I will be doing the driving.

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