From Daughter to Woman

         From Daughter to Woman by Kim McCabe #blogtour

Summary:
This book aims to make the adolescent's journey just that bit safer, kinder, and better supported - so parents and teens can enjoy the teenage years more.

The teen years are tough - for teens and for parents. Many parents dread the moodiness, dishonesty, preference of friends over family, exam stress, and the push for greater independence. Mothers have a pivotal role to play; this is a guidebook for parents and mothers of girls in particular as they navigate the rocky teenage landscape with their daughters aged 8 to 18. It aims to help them embrace the potential of their child's teenage years by marking this time of growing maturity for girls and celebrating it with them. We celebrate birth, marriage and death, but this important life-transition from child to young adult is nowadays rarely acknowledged within an appropriate community.

My Review:

'Thousands of girls are on a similar journey right now and millions and millions of women have trodden the pat before you. There is no right way to grow up, and you will find your own way.'

From Daughter to Woman isn't a how to manual, but a gentle hug of encouragement and support, in a world where we come across so much judgement and negativity. 

As a mother of an eleven year old daughter, I was very keen to read this book. Navigating the ups and downs of a preteen can be challenging, so any guidance as to how to make this journey through adolescence feel a bit safer, kinder and more supportive, could only be a good thing. 

'If our children learn how to learn and acquire a love of learning, then they are well equipped. Enabling this is true education.'

Being able to look objectively at myself, and the example I am setting my daughter is an obvious first. Obvious, but so often overlooked. Do as I do, and not as I say is important when raising children, lead by example, not instruction. Remembering the basics when raising children/teenagers can be hard when we are so incredibly busy.

The extent and scope of the guidance and ideas in this book is astounding. There are chapters on pretty much anything you can think of that links with a teenage girl, from periods and relationships, to moods, body image and self confidence. 

Not everything will be appropriate for you and your daughter, but as you read this book, you will undoubtedly pick up so many gems that will help you bond with your child instead of being at loggerheads. 

'Children need us to respect who they actually are and not try to change them. They need us to champion their individuality.'

From Daughter to Woman is a book that I will be revisiting often over the next few years, as I hopefully help my daughter become the spirited, independent, incredible woman I know she is destined to be. 

Title Information:
Title: From Daughter to Woman
Author: Kim McCabe
Release Date: 18th July
Genre: Non-Fiction
Publisher: Little Brown Books

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Author Information:

Kim McCabe is the founder of Rites for Girls. As the originator and facilitator of Girls Journeying Together groups, she offers guidance to preteen and teen girls and simultaneous support for their mothers. In training other women to facilitate these groups, her dream is that every girl grows up expecting to be supported and celebrated in adolescence. Kim was commissioned to write a section in Steve Biddulph's latest best-selling book, 10 Things Girls Need Most: To Grow Up Strong and Free.

Kim is a home-educating mother of two boys, one girl, two cats and a colony of aloe vera plants; she is wife to a Kiwi, daughter to itinerant parents, friend to a cherished few, and lover of time alone, too. She lives in the Ashdown Forest in Sussex. She sometimes shouts at her children, accidentally steps on the cat's tail and forgets to water the plants, but she loves her work, her family and her life. She has always had deep affinity with teenage girls, and by sharing her wisdom and compassion she infects the reader with her enthusiasm for this life stage.