Girls Empowered by Leaders, Sports in Tarrytown; Study: Stop Telling Your Teen to Lose Weight, Diet

Here’s what’s happening Today in the 914, according to Westchester Woman: Girls Empowered by Leaders, Sports in Tarrytown; Study: Stop Telling Your Teen to Lose Weight or Diet; MORE

1.)?Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins recently served as ?a panelist?at the Liberty Empowerment Session hosted by the Garden of Dreams Foundation and the New York Liberty Womens Basketball Team at the Madison Square Garden Training Center in Tarrytown.

The Liberty Empowerment Session’s goal is to help instill confidence and self-esteem in young women so they can be empowered to achieve their goals.

Former WNBA star Teresa Weatherspoon, news anchor Rebecca Harlow, dancer and model Damaris Lewis and Stewart-Cousins met with 100 girls from the Children’s Aid?Society, WHEDco, the Police Athletic League and SCO Family of Services to inspire them with stories about their own lives and struggles.

If you have a passion, you should chase after it with everything youve got, Senator Stewart-Cousins told the group of girls. Train, educate yourself, and practice as much as you can. You can overcome any hardship life throws at you with enough preparation and conviction.

The girls in attendance also got to flex their skills on the basketball court.?The Garden of Dreams Foundation works with the Madison Square Garden Company to help and inspire children who face difficult obstacles in their lives via community programs, direct support, and financial assistance.

For more information, visit: http://www.gardenofdreamsfoundation.org/

2.) Parents have the power to raise daughters who are healthy, have good self-body image and high self-esteem. One way they can do that is to shut up about their weight.

Rather than obsessing about what your child looks like and weighs in an effort to mold them into a body type that society deems acceptable and attractive,??new guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics?say that parents should instead focus on setting good examples for their children by encouraging healthy eating and physical activity.

“In order to prevent obesity and eating disorders, parents should focus less on diets and the scale and emphasize family togetherness and exercise for fitness, not weight loss.?The AAP included both obesity and eating disorders in their recommendations because these often share unhealthy behaviors such as dieting, bingeing and having a dissatisfied view of ones body,” The Huffington Post reports.

Here’s are some tips they offer on what not to do:

• Never encourage dieting.
• Dont comment on your childs weight, or even your?weight
• Never tease teens about their weight

Here’s what you should do instead:

• Eat together
• Focus on a balanced diet and exercise ?not weight loss
• Create a healthy home environment

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