what magazines do your daughters read?

[rosiejoy]

i spose im really thinking between the ages of 8-12. do they read the same magazine every week? have you read the magazine? what do you think/feel about it?

just wondering because it is something a friend and i have been discussing. our dds are still toddlers, but we are aware of feeling society already has different expectations of them to boys.

interested in what others thoughts/experiences are...

DD1 (12) has Pony magazine on subscription and DD2 (10) has National Geographic Kids on subscription. DD1 also likes to buy herself Shout when they've got free make-up on the cover, and DD2 likes to buy Toxic from time to time.

thanks pesto

what do you think about the content? is their anything in them you are uncomfortable with? do you think they promote positive role models for girls?

Ummmmm

sorry for the grilling!

we have a project in mind, still at 'brainstorming' stage. decided should find out how people really feel, not how we've decided they should feel iyswim!

Mine (age 9) like Go Girl and Girl Talk whenever my parents can post them to us. I think the content is fine. It's mainly High School Musical, Hannah Montana and fashion and a whole lot of friend stuff. They spend a lot of time on the websites for these magazines as well.

National Geographic Kids is brilliant, lots of articles, competitions and things to get young brains working and interested.

Pony is obviously equine related stuff, which suits DD1 down to the ground.

Not too sure about Shout as I think it's probably aimed at a slightly older readership and Toxic I think is a bit rubbishy, but hey-ho, DD2 likes it.

DD is 8 and a Beano freak. However her mind was blown by the 1970s Tammy that came free with the Guardian a week or so ago; she said it was even better than the Beano, so I've bought her a few old annuals on ebay. I'm sure they're full of terrible old stereotypes (fraid I can't be arsed to read them myself) but heck, I grew up on them with few side effects.

It seems odd to me that there isn't more choice wrt girls' comics. DD likes jokes and pranks and school strips and how-to-make ideas, she's not bovvered about ponies or HSM, and there's really very little for her.

My DDs 8, and like Fernies DD she reads Go Girl and Girl Talk, and still likes the Barbie mag. I don't get her one religiously every week, just when we remember and are in the shop together.

She does read them out to me sometimes, and they are pretty tame, nothing about boys etc, mostly puppies and a bit of fashion. Some people might not like the girly pink slant to the mags, but it doesn't bother me, it's just another medium for her to exercise her reading in a fun way.

hi rosie
i try desperately to steer DD (8) away from some of the mags on offer and so far she is reasonably happy with 'beano'! she also gets 'animal action' (er, i think that's what it's called) the rspca children's mag which is great. i am really keen to encourage the whole animal-loving side of her and to discourage The Rest for as long as possible. by which i mean the whole lip gloss/make-up/mobile phone accessory/consumerist aspect to life. not that i blame magazines entirely (she gets some of the ones others have mentioned now and again) but i really don't like their emphasis on appearance and the superficial, eg quizzes on their 'personal style' etc - sigh. i am a bit of an old hippy, i guess

thanks for replies

katiek im worried too about The Rest. didnt want to put that in my initial post in case i put people off replying, am genuinely interested in hearing what others think.

i had a look at some of those magazines in a shop the other day and i was quite shocked, but i guess im a bit of a hippy too.

have been thinking about all of this, and then listened to something on women's hour about the sexualisation of young girls. it worries me, especially now i have a daughter.

i dont magazines are entirely to blame either, but as reading is an activity done on your own i spose im worried that these magazines get to speak directly to girls.

what im wondering now is what alternatives can we offer them? not just avoiding 'gilriness' altogether, how can we show positive 'images' and examples of women and feminity, and importantly that it does not need to define you

bump
anyone else?

hi rosie
you're certainly preaching to the converted as far as i'm concerned i am horrified at the sexualisation of our culture and of our little girls. i've stopped buying women's magazines since DD learned to read - not that i ever bought many, but i try not to have them in the house at all now. when we go and visit DD's 16 yr old aunt, we are immmersed in grazia and heat and looks mags for a weekend at a time, and i try to stay cool but it's hard
it's difficult isn't it - i don't mind DD's burgeoning interest in clothes and 'style' per se, as long as it's just one of her interests, but i look around at what is happening to our society in general and i just shake my head ... we moved to the countryside where things are a little less pervasive and children remain children for a little longer, but The Rest still rears its head and DD's best friend (also 8) has a mobile phone and brings her nintendo DS to school
so, yes, i would definitely be interested in another sort of 8-12 age range magazine!
GOOD LUCK!

DD was 12 last week and bought herself a Jonas Brothers Magazine last week
Over the years we have bought her Girl Talk/Go Girl, anything with an animal, National Geographic for Kids. We did subscribe to Scooby Doo geography magazine for a year or so.

We now subscribe to Flipside for her and DS 14 ,which is a teen magazine produced by the IET with lots of sciency/engineering articles as well film/games etc. Flipside gets fought over when it arrives.

DD2 (9) reads National Georgraphic Kids. DD1 (12) would read Bliss if I bought it for her, but as she is given pocket money to cover that sort of thing, chooses not to waste her own money on it (wasting mine, of course, being a different matter).
DD3 (7) has not got a magazine she likes particularly, but likes wordsearch/puzzle type mags.

DD (13) buys Elle with her own money. I buy her Horse and Rider.

DD8 has NG Kids monthly; she's okay about it. She quotes facts from it, and sometimes re-reads. It's already been renewed for next year, but I think the year after that I'll try to get her Beano, instead.

She leaps onto any sort of popular comic, Star Wars, whatever. Not horses or into make-up/girly/HSM.

DD is 10 and has subscriptions to the Beano, First News (ok, newspaper not magazine exactly. It was recommended to us on MN and tis good). She also gets the magazine that comes with RSPB junior membership.

She's not a girly girl so I can't see her getting into 'The Rest'.

I have 3 dd's, and basically, I don't really buy them mags anymore. We used to buy kiddie ones when we went on long train trips, but they aren't appropriate anymore.
I do have one avid Beano reader, who greatly enjoys her Wednesday luxury (courtesy of grandma), and I don't mind that. All the pre-teen stuff that I see looks like cr*p - I am not interested in them learning about boys and makeup etc, and the pony puppy stuff seems a bit to syrupy, though harmless enough.
I would love to have access to a magazine that is age appropriate, and interesting! Attracted by NGeo kids, but what about a magazine with a different orientation - short stories, (literature), poems, articles about various artists etc. Sections where children can contribute their own writing/drawing. Or what about one that has craft possibilities (I don't mean Art Attack - I mean more like how to make your own paper, etc.) or suggestions of simple experiments ("put the egg in the vinegar..."). I do think there is a market.

For some reason I'd not thought of Nat. Geo... what age range is it for please? I couldn't see that on the website and also the subscriptions all seemed to be in $ - do you have to order from US?

Jennifer, that does sound like a good idea!

am also v interested in the nat geo option - had never considered it. will do some research! jennifer - excellent ideas ( i am SO not an ideas person but if i were, i would have liked to come up with some of yours) there really is a gap in the market i reckon - go for it rosiejoy

NG Kids is about right from about age 7 (depends on maturity of the child). Reading age is about an average 9yo, I'd guess.
There definitely is a UK website for it, also you can get cutprice subs with Tesco points, other points reward schemes, worth checking into.

I know DD, and when she does get around to reading typical 'girly' mags I'm sure her every other proclamation will be "This is really stupid!"

dd (8) gets Nat Geo as well and a North American (maybe just Cdn?? not sure) mag called Chickadee which is fabulous. It's for 6-9, there is a good mix of stories, things to make, non fiction, puzzles, things from readers, etc. No advertising or other crap. They do one for younger kids called Chirp, and older kids called Owl.

(these are monthly mags not weekly)

DD is 7y and I find that there is a real gap in the market.

DD likes the activities in magazines, as opposed to reading girly chat like int he older magazines. And she isn't into ponies, etc.

We tend to buy Sparkle World every so often, but it is too young really. The activities are way too easy - but as something to do on a train journey, better than the alternatives.

We sometimes get National Geograohic for kids too which is good for reading.

wow, great responses thanks!

will have a look at national geographic and flipside...

nice to know im not alone in my thoughts

jennifersofia, your suggestions were just the sort of thing we'd been talking about so im really pleased

both my friend and i were avid readers of the beano as kids, i think there's a lot to be said for that sort of cheeky naughtiness. a kind of escapism from rules for kids. i knew i would never do the things characters in the comic did, so i enjoyed reading about them doing it iyswim

if the idea goes anywhere will keep you posted!