The National Women’s Health Information Center, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Office on Women’s Health all sponsor a website for girls called girlshealth.gov. Girlshealth.gov is an excellent resource covering many topics for girls in the realm of health and even social issues. I like that the website offers so many topics in one place making it easy for a parent to become informed.

The website is girl friendly and a fantastic place for your daughter to hang out on the web and find out all kinds of things. Topics include:

Body – a place to find out about their changing bodies, hygiene and health issues (including reproductive health and other sensitive topics).

Fitness – a place to reinforce healthy living, from general exercise to organized sports.

Nutrition – after all that exercise we better make sure our daughters are eating right. The nutrition section is stock full of info from a food guide, how to read labels to what a healthy weight is.

Illness and disability – talks about the difference between having an illness and being disabled.

Drugs, alcohol and smoking – all things related to drugs, alcohol and cigarette use. This page includes a drug glossary. Older children may learn about these issues in school. Younger children may need guidance when discussing drugs.

Mind – after body issues we know our daughters struggle with many self-esteem issues. This section covers many emotional health topics related our daughters including depression, body image, eating disorders, stress, running away and suicide.

Relationships – since we worry about whom our daughter’s friends are we will be happy with the relationship pages of girlshealth.gov. It covers healthy relationships from friends, dating and family.

Bullying – we know it happens and this section can tell us why. There are informative quizzes to help your daughter find out if she is a bully or if she is being bullied. Additional resources about bullying for parents or caregivers, and educators are included.

Safety – we can’t be with them all the time so this section is a nice refresher on safety. It covers safety issues at home, school, on the road, and on the net, in relationships and has quizzes as well.

Your Future – while we wonder if they are making plans for their future, this section helps them along with all the things yet to come after high school graduation.

Girlshealth.gov also provides a News & More section to keep your daughters up-to-date on the site; a Speak Up section with weekly discussion topics; and a Free Stuff section to share more resources; not to mention interviews, surveys and other fun stuff.

Don’t forget that the website also provides information to parents and caregivers as well as to educators. As always review the topics on the website. Have a discussion time with your daughter about many of the topics. She’ll be glad you did.