101 Ways to Help Your Daughter Love Her Body

With 101 Ways to Help Your Daughter Love Her Body, Brenda Lane Richardson and Elane Rehr have written the definitive book about body esteem for girls. These two mothers--one a journalist, the other a clinical psychologist--don't simply snarl about the ways society chips away at a young girl's self esteem via her body image. Instead, they offer fresh, practical strategies for parents to teach daughters to view their bodies lovingly in the face of enormous pressure. Body esteem, say the authors, "allows a girl to view her internal strengths, rather than her appearance, as a projection of her worth and to retain an image of her body as a whole rather than a package of distorted parts that must be dressed up and displayed to their best advantage." Each chapter is packed with specific suggestions about how parents can reframe a daughter's media-driven desire for a perfect body into a process of accepting her unique build. Among the topics: living in a fat-phobic culture, teaching body comfort with babies, why a mother's body esteem is critical, how dads make a difference, brilliant "Barbie" strategies, a crash course in the perils of puberty, the trap of "emotional eating," talking about pregnancy and periods, and how to keep her body from harm. The bold and wise counsel in this book should be read by every parent of a growing girl. --Barbara Mackoff