You Have To Say I'm Pretty, You're My Mother
How to Help Your Daughter Learn to Love Her Body and Herself
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- $15.99
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
At a time when it's never been more difficult to get from twelve to twenty in one sane, self-confident piece, this book provides explanations, straightforward advice and strategies, even a script, to help parents cope with their daughters' body image problems. This is the truly practical book, Stephanie Pierson looked for in vain when her own daughter developed anorexia and body image problems. Written with Phyllis Cohen, a psychotherapist with 30 years of experience of adolescent problems, there are chapters on why daughters have negative body images and how mothers can prevent this, staying connected with your daughter, communicating, daughter's viewpoint, sex, developing a realistic sense of self, problems of coloured teenagers, health and nutrition. It provides the warning signs of depression: changes in sleep patterns, appetite, eating patterns, lethargy, social withdrawal, irritability; and the danger signs: suicidal thoughts, drug or alcohol use, self-mutilation, anorexia and bulimia.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Pierson, the mother of a teenage daughter whose"self-esteem was based on the circumference of her thighs," and Cohen, a psychotherapist specializing in adolescents, team up to write this encouraging and practical"road map" for mothers whose daughters struggle with body issues. They carefully outline how mothers and daughters can improve communication, and help mothers understand that their own feelings--about food, their bodies, sex, etc.--play the primary role in how daughters perceive these same things. In chapters covering the basics of body image, mother-daughter and father-daughter relationships, the"care and feeding" of adolescent girls, and sex, Pierson and Cohen show how girls use their bodies as the"vocabulary for their emotions" (when a girl says she feels fat, she's talking about her feelings, not her need to go on a diet); how proper boundaries are crucial; how statements that mean well can make things worse ("You'd be so much prettier if your hair wasn't in your eyes"); how daughters test fathers; how to encourage proper nutrition and recognize"disordered eating"; and how mothers can empower their daughters to explore their sexuality but still feel comfortable saying no. This is a caring, clearly--even simply--written volume that will undoubtedly help mothers understand the kinds of pressures their daughters feel, and enable them to face the tough adolescent years as allies rather than adversaries.
