Journal Buddies Review and Giveaway (Christmas Wish List 2010)

I have a number of young girls to shop for this holiday season and I’ve noticed that one of them especially has been having a tough time at school and trying to find herself an be comfortable in her own skin and I can totally relate to her I myself had a tough time especially in Jr high just like her with my self-esteem and such and I found that writing about my feelings, just being able to share them really made a difference when it came to the way I was feeling about my self and such! So when I discovered Journal Buddies and read what they were all about I just couldn’t help but ask if I could do a review and giveaway right here on The Cartoon Lovin’ Mama and I was so excited when Jill agreed to letting me do the review and giveaway!

About Journal Buddies (Taken From Website):

Dear Journaler Extraordinaire,
I am thrilled to introduce you to a new and wildly enjoyable method to journaling that helps adults and kids connect, communicate and celebrate.

Before I share all of the exciting details with you about the innovative and award-winning children’s books, I want to share a few words of wisdom about building self-esteem in children.

One of the simplest and most powerful ways to build self-esteem in kids is to tell them exactly what it is that makes them so incredible and amazing! The easiest way to achieve this is to make a concerted effort to point out the special qualities, traits or talents that you admire about your special child.

After you’ve pointed out exactly what it is that makes your child so wonderful, simply ensure that s/he has fully absorbed (in both mind and heart) what you’ve told them. Go back and read that again! Let this advice sink in deeply. Let the awesome power of this one self-esteem building action settle deep within your mind and heart.

This simple yet powerful self-esteem action is the basis of my kids books, Journal Buddies: A Girl’s Journal for Sharing and Celebrating Magnificence and Journal Buddies: A Boy’s Journal for Discovering and Sharing Excellence.

There are also four pillars of wisdom that make the children’s books a powerful self-esteem building experience for the journal owner and their journaling buddies. These pillars of wisdom are about developing:

A Healthy, Strong Sense of Self
Confidence in one’s Abilities, Strengths and Gifts
A Powerful, Support System of Helpers and Buddies
Awareness of Beliefs (our own and those in our support system)

So what makes the Journal Buddies books for kids such a unique, fresh take on journaling? The primary goal of Journal Buddies is to build a lasting sense of self-esteem in kids through experiential, hand-on learning. It has three simple parts, they are:

Innovative Part One – Shared Journaling
Easy & Fun Part Two – Creative Expression
Powerful Part Three – Kindness and Strengthening Self-Esteem

With the Journal Buddies book, you take the simple and fun self-esteem building activity of sharing what you admire and love about your child and you make the time to formalize this experience and record it in a journal. You do this once a day for 30 days.

Journal Buddies is no ordinary journal book. It is an experience – an unforgettable and lasting experience about sharing, creating, expressing, and improving self-esteem. Best of all, these books give kids a core self-esteem experience that lives inside of them forever. You agree that’s powerful, right?

I’m naturally excited about these kids journals. I wrote them and polished them and tested them and rewrote them again (and again). The final results are books PACKED full a great journaling ideas designed to help strengthen a child’s self-esteem, build healthy relationships and express their creativity!

My Thoughts:

I was sent a copy of the Girls Journal Buddies and I just couldn’t wait to sit down and have a good look over the book, and since I myself struggled with my self esteem when I was younger I can totally relate with my little cousin and I wanted to be sure I was giving her a tool that would help her get through those tough days at Junior High. So when I found some time to really set down and read it over I found myself amazed at all of the wonderful and useful advise in the book as well as I’m loving the interaction of the journal as well! I’m quite interested in seeing how my cousin reacts when she gets this journal in her Christmas basket this year.

I feel like this journal will really help her relate to the other girls her age and the fact that she will be able to share her journal with a “buddy” who will also be able to share her thoughts on my little cousin and so forth that I think will really help both girls with their self-esteem not to mention that each entry also contains a thought for the day and a focus word for the day then the end of each entry has blank pages to fill up however your child wishes. There is an amazing list of creative journaling ideas listed in the first section of the book 89 different ideas to be exact to help with the creativity of your child.

Now you can get Journal Buddies for both boys and girls and I think it’s one of the best things on the market for young tweens and teens to connect with themselves and a buddy to help build their self esteem and gain encouragement and knowledge from one another.

Bottom Line:

I am a firm believer that keeping a journal at a young age can really help with all the stress and crud that goes on in school and life in general and to be honest the Journal Buddies is one of the best journal systems I have ever seen and I so wish I would have had one of these for myself when I was younger and going through my self esteem issues myself. I can’t wait to give this to my little cousin and see the results she will achieve and get from this journal.

I think that the Journal Buddies would make a wonderful and priceless stocking stuffer or gift basket filler for any tween or teen you may be shopping for this holiday season! After checking out the Journal Buddies for myself I just can’t tell you how wonderful it is and I really recommend you checking one out for yourself!

Buy It:
To purchase either the Girls or Boys Journal Buddies visit the Journal Buddies website!

Win It:
Jill has very generoulsy offered one of my readers a Girls or Boys Journal Buddies of their own!

Mandatory Entry: Visit Journal Buddies and tell me something else you learnt or who you would like to win this for! Please remember to leave your e-mail address if it’s not visible in your profile.

Want or need extra entries? Check out how to grab em’ below! (Mandatory Entry must be complete for these to count)

1. Become a public follower of my blog (2 extra)

2. Follow me on twitter @sgrant2005 and tweet this giveaway (can be done daily)

3. Subscribe to my feed via a reader

4. Blog about this giveaway with a link to this post and to Journal Buddies be sure to leave me a link (5 extra)

5. Follow Journal Buddies on Twitter

6. “Like” Journal Buddies on Facebook

Giveaway ends Dec 21, 2010 @ midnight CST. Winner will be chosen at random, using random.org and contacted by e-mail and has 48 hrs to respond before a new winner is chosen.

This review is based strictly my opinion. Others may have a different opinion with the product listed above. I did receive the Journal Buddies mentioned above complementary for this review. No monetary compensation was received.