Girls: What's So Bad About Being Good?

Harriet S. Mosatche, Ph.D., is the director of Program Development for Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. In that position, she writes or directs the writing of resources for girls from 5 to 17 and for the adults who work with them. Since 1997, Harriet and her daughter Liz have been offering advice in Ask Dr. M and Liz, a popular section of the Just 4 Girls pages of the national Girl Scout Web site. In addition to her work with Girl Scouts, Harriet is a partner in OutPerform LLC, which offers consulting services to schools and community agencies in program development and evaluation. She also conducts workshops on child and adolescent development and family relationships for parents, kids, and teachers. Harriet received her Ph.D. in developmental psychology from the City University of New York. Prior to joining the Girl Scout organization, she was a college professor for a dozen years, with six of those years as chairperson of the Psychology Department at a New York City college. Her publications, in addition to Girls: What’s So Bad About Being Good?, include articles in scholarly journals and popular magazines as well as two books, the most recent being Too Old for This, Too Young for That! Your Survival Guide for the Middle-School Years (coauthored with Karen Unger), winner of the 2000 Gold Award winner for nonfiction from the National Association of Parenting Publications. Harriet has volunteered as a Girl Scout leader since 1993 and now works with a troop of 12 and 13 year old Cadette Girl Scouts. She lives in New York with her husband, Ivan Lawner, and their two children, Rob and Liz.