In The Curse of the Good Girl, Rachel Simmons writes at length about the cultural pressures that require a girl to always act nice and look cute. These pressures put girls in a bind because it is not always possible or appropriate to remain nice and cute when they, in fact, have a range of other feelings that include anger, jealousy, competitiveness, and sensitivity, among others.

Without social recognition and … Read the rest

Is your teens stressed out? Would you recognize it if she was?

Stress is now commonly recognized as one of the leading causes of physical and mental health issues for both adults and teens. For teens, life can be particularly stressful as they figure out how to manage academic expectations, relationships with friends and family, and maintaining their personal appearance and social lives. The patterns of stress management they learn … Read the rest

I hate to say it but you can not sheild your daughter from the sexualized media its impact on her self-image.

The best protection you can offer her  is to teach her the skills of critical thought and personal reflection.

Through these skills, she can develop an increased sense of self value.

Your daughter will feel that what she has to say is valuable if you create space for … Read the rest

Having a social life is very important to teens but it is an ephemeral, rapidly changing thing, often filled with drama. Teen girls are easily pulled into believing their ultimate value is based on where they stand in the pecking order of popular cliques. And the pressures of wanting to fit in might make your daughter overly-focused on her image.

Beyond peer validation, teens’ need to find a source of … Read the rest

In order to tip the balance so that your daughter values her self beyond her image, you
want to mitigate her exposure to targeted messages that tell her a young girl’s most valuable asset is her image.

Images of unattainable female beauty are so prevalent they are practically the air young girls breathe. As a result, teen girls often are unclear about why images of young women being sexually objectified … Read the rest

Many teens risk isolation or bullying if they do not fit nicely into the Barbie and Ken archetypes of male or female. A new documentary called Straightlaced takes a thoughtful look at how some teens navigate these strict gender role expectations by interviewing them about their personal experiences. The resulting interviews reveal that there is a surprising amount of variation and struggle in how today’s teens identify and express their … Read the rest