more loving advice

1. Take care of your body.
Not only does that mean just taking a shower daily, but washing your face to keep up with dirt that gets into your pores. Pimples are no fun, especially when you are a teen. Along with taking care of your body, goes not sunbathing too much. I know you want that tan look, but apply good sunscreen to prevent skin cancer. It also keeps your skin from looking too wrinkled earlier than it should.
2. Dental care is essential.
Don't take your teeth for granted while you are young. As you get older, your teeth aren't as strong and healthy as they once were. Brush and floss those teeth every morning and every evening before bed. Cavities not only get in a tooth, they can also get between them and cause alot of pain.
3. Hair care.....not only keeping up with washing, but proper drying and brushing are also very important. In today's youngsters, I see alot of hair dye, and that means taking extra care.
4. Get plenty of sleep. Go to bed earlier on school nights to get the proper amount of sleep.. They don't call it "beauty sleep" for nothing. Your body and skin need sleep to repair itself at night. Plus, it's good to get that extra rest on a school night to be able to function the next day.
5. Eat well. Sugary snacks are delicious, but they don't supply the body with nothing but empty calories. Go for that apple, grapes, orange or some other sort of fruit to satisfy that sweet tooth. What you put into your body shows !!!

learning how to cook

Although my daughter is now 13, she has been dipping her hand into the kitchen for the past year. Yes, of course, when she was younger, she learned how to make toast and some of those easier things, but now, she is cooking 1 night a week. We first started with her helping me, and then graduated to her doing some things on her own, of course with mom watching some.
We first started with Hamburger Helper. Easy enough to learn but making sure that she drain the hamburger before adding the other stuff was one thing. Now, she has graduated onto some of those chicken helpers. Last week, she made tacos, rice and some beans. She is learning how to do some things that I didn't learn when I was her age. I think not only does she need to know how to cook, so she can do that for herself when she's out and on her own in years to come, but she is also learning how to follow the directions on the box. She is learning measuring cup measures and finding out that she can do things on her own. As she gets older, and a bit more knowlegable in the kitchen, she will start learning to make more challenging meals.
Learning how to cook can be very rewarding... and it also builds some one on one time with your daughter.