CEDAR FALLS - Family time is a rare commodity in the Prohaska household.

Sisters Holly and Brooke Prohaska are busy with several after-school activities that keep the family calendar full and their mother, Michelle, on-the-go, taxiing them to and fro. Despite the hurried interactions, Michelle said she makes the most of that time with her girls.

And when they can't eke out enough time during car rides, family dinners and those rare evenings together, the Prohaskas will call a family meeting.

"We use that time to talk about whatever is coming up or whatever is bothering the girls. Before Holly got her cell phone that was all she could talk about during the meetings," Michelle said.

Healthy relationships, like the one Michelle has fostered with her girls, will be one of the topics discussed during the third annual "Tween Talk," an extension of the Speaking of Women's Health initiative geared toward pre-teen girls, ages 9 to 13, and their mothers or other influential women. Kathleen Hassan, the self-described "Queen of Tween Self Esteem," will deliver the keynote address.

Hassan said her first word of advice always is to assure the young girls listening that "they are not broken, and we are not trying to fix them," she said. Her goal is to help mothers and daughters build their relationship, because it can be the one that provides them the most power and the most pain.

"A lot of women wind up in therapy because of their relationship with their mother," she said.

Though Hassan has no daughters of her own - she has two grown sons - she said she uses her relationship with her own mother as a starting point for her work.

"Growing up, I was looking for love in all the wrong places. Everything I teach these girls is the result of having to learn this the hard way. I made so many poor choices as a young woman, I knew there had to be more to life than pain, and that is all I knew growing up," she said. "And I share all of this with these girls. Why else would they listen to me?"

Hassan sends the mother-daughter duos home with tools they can use to continue building their bond and strengthening their self-esteem through positive affirmations and anchor statements. Participants also are given free access to some subscription items on Hassan's Web site, www.kathleenhassan.com.

Kristin Schaefer, project manager at Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare, said this will be the first time that mothers and daughters will both be part of the keynote address. Schaefer said Hassan's message bridges the generation gap and past participants have asked that their daughters be included in this part of the day.

Adult attendees also will learn how to become trusted and effective resources for their tweens, while the girls will learn how to better recognize healthy choices through nutrition and exercise, see positive ways to interpret the changes in their bodies and make smart decisions about their personal safety. Educational and interactive booths also will be up before the event begins.

Contact Emily Christensen at (319) 291-1570 or emily.christensen@wcfcourier.com.