Skip to Main Content

Parenting: Daughters

A research topic guide covering aspects of parenting, including discipline, development, single parenthood, sex education, technology, and adoption.

Resources

Research & Reference

All about Girls

This video explores conflicting definitions of femininity and what it means to be a girl, and discusses how parents can help their daughters grow into healthy and well-adjusted adults. (22 minutes)

Source: Films on Demand

Perspectives

Untangled: Guiding Teenage Girls Through the Seven Transitions Into Adulthood

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * An award-winning guide to the sometimes erratic and confusing behavior of teenage girls that explains what's going on, prepares parents for what's to come, and lets them know when it's time to worry.   Look for Under Pressure, the companion guide to coping with stress and anxiety among girls, available now. In this sane, highly engaging, and informed guide for parents of daughters, Dr. Damour draws on decades of experience and the latest research to reveal the seven distinct--and absolutely normal--developmental transitions that turn girls into grown-ups, including Parting with Childhood, Contending with Adult Authority, Entering the Romantic World, and Caring for Herself. Providing realistic scenarios and welcome advice on how to engage daughters in smart, constructive ways, Untangled gives parents a broad framework for understanding their daughters while addressing their most common questions, including * My thirteen-year-old rolls her eyes when I try to talk to her, and only does it more when I get angry with her about it. How should I respond? * Do I tell my teen daughter that I'm checking her phone? * My daughter suffers from test anxiety. What can I do to help her? * Where's the line between healthy eating and having an eating disorder? * My teenage daughter wants to know why I'm against pot when it's legal in some states. What should I say? * My daughter's friend is cutting herself. Do I call the girl's mother to let her know? Perhaps most important, Untangled helps mothers and fathers understand, connect, and grow with their daughters. When parents know what makes their daughter tick, they can embrace and enjoy the challenge of raising a healthy, happy young woman. BOOKS FOR A BETTER LIFE AWARD WINNER "Finally, there's some good news for puzzled parents of adolescent girls, and psychologist Lisa Damour is the bearer of that happy news. [Untangled] is the most down-to-earth, readable parenting book I've come across in a long time."--The Washington Post "Anna Freud wrote in 1958, 'There are few situations in life which are more difficult to cope with than an adolescent son or daughter during the attempt to liberate themselves.' In the intervening decades, the transition doesn't appear to have gotten any easier which makes Untangled such a welcome new resource."--The Boston Globe

She Is Yours

I prayed for this child, and the Lord answered my prayer. He gave me this child. And now I give this child to the Lord. 1 Samuel 1:27 ERV Do you remember when you first held your newborn daughter and sensed the awesome responsibility and immense privilege of parenthood? God gave you this precious gift to care for and to love, and He may have even whispered to your heart, "She is yours." Now comes the hard part--raising her up from a baby to a happy, healthy adult--and remembering that everything you have is God's, including your daughter. Wynter and Jonathan Pitts want you to know you are not alone. The proud parents of four young daughters, they've gained a wealth of valuable insights on the unique challenge of raising girls. They've been right where you are and now they want to share what they've learned with you. With this practical advice and encouragement, you can help your daughter develop awesome relationships with God, with you, and with the world around her. Start this journey by making this commitment to God: Lord, she is Yours and I trust You with her. For more information on this book, visit sheisyours.net.

Growing Strong Daughters

Today women enjoy more opportunities than in any previous century. Yet they are still pressured to be beautiful, thin, and sexy. In this sort of environment, our daughters get mixed messages about what a strong woman really is. How can we work to create a social environment that nurtures strong, confident girls? This helpful book is filled with strategies and personal insights to guide you in growing a strong, capable daughter. McMinn discusses topics such as how you can teach your daughter to: be confident as well as interdependent, feel confident in her ability to think and speak for herself, have a healthy perspective toward her body and sexuality, develop strong relationships with boys, both parents, and a future mate. McMinn thoughtfully examines these issues, reminding us of our God-given responsibilities to "grow" the next generation of women. Her personal insight, life experience, and careful research combine to make this book helpful for all who are involved in raising and nurturing girls - whether parents, teachers, church leaders, or civic communities. This revised edition includes a new preface, study questions, and updated studies, illustrations, and concepts. Book jacket.

Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters

A critical read for all dads seeking to connect with their daughters and raise confident young women in today's increasingly complicated world. It's often difficult for parents to connect with their daughters-and especially so for fathers. In this unique and invaluable guide, Dr. Meg Meeker, a pediatrician with more than twenty years' experience counseling girls, reveals that a young woman's relationship with her father is far more important than we've ever realized. To become a strong, confident woman, a daughter needs her father's attention, protection, courage, and wisdom. Dr. Meeker shares the ten secrets every father needs to know in order to strengthen or rebuild bonds with his daughter and shape her life-and his own-for the better. Inside you'll discover: * the essential virtues of strong fathers-and how to develop them * the cues daughters take from their dads on everything from self-respect to drugs, alcohol, and sex * the truth about ground rules (girls do want them, despite their protests) * the importance of becoming a hero to your daughter * the biggest mistake a dad can make-and the ramifications * the fact that girls actually depend on their dads' guidance into adulthood * steps fathers can follow to help daughters avoid disastrous decisions and mistakes * ways in which a father's faith-or lack thereof-will influence his daughter * essential communication strategies for different stages of a girl's life * true stories of "prodigal daughters"-and how their fathers helped to bring them back Dads, you are far more powerful than you think-and if you follow Dr. Meeker' s advice, the rewards will be unmatched. "Reassuring and challenging . . . a helpful road map for concerned fathers [that] tackles difficult issues." -National Review "A touching, illuminating book that will prove valuable to all of us who are fortunate enough to have been blessed with daughters." -Michael Medved, nationally syndicated radio talk-show host, author of Right Turns "Dr. Meeker's conclusions are timely, relevant, and often deeply moving. No one interested in what girls experience growing up in our culture today-and the impact that parents, especially fathers, have on the experience-can afford to miss reading this book." -Armand M. Nicholi, Jr., M.D., professor of psychiatry, Harvard Medical School

Under Pressure

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * An urgently needed guide to the alarming increase in anxiety and stress experienced by girls from elementary school through college, from the author of Untangled "An invaluable read for anyone who has girls, works with girls, or cares about girls--for everyone!"--Claire Shipman, author of The Confidence Code and The Confidence Code for Girls Though anxiety has risen among young people overall, studies confirm that it has skyrocketed in girls. Research finds that the number of girls who said that they often felt nervous, worried, or fearful jumped 55 percent from 2009 to 2014, while the comparable number for adolescent boys has remained unchanged. As a clinical psychologist who specializes in working with girls, Lisa Damour, Ph.D., has witnessed this rising tide of stress and anxiety in her own research, in private practice, and in the all-girls' school where she consults. She knew this had to be the topic of her new book. In the engaging, anecdotal style and reassuring tone that won over thousands of readers of her first book, Untangled, Damour starts by addressing the facts about psychological pressure. She explains the surprising and underappreciated value of stress and anxiety: that stress can helpfully stretch us beyond our comfort zones, and anxiety can play a key role in keeping girls safe. When we emphasize the benefits of stress and anxiety, we can help our daughters take them in stride. But no parents want their daughter to suffer from emotional overload, so Damour then turns to the many facets of girls' lives where tension takes hold: their interactions at home, pressures at school, social anxiety among other girls and among boys, and their lives online. As readers move through the layers of girls' lives, they'll learn about the critical steps that adults can take to shield their daughters from the toxic pressures to which our culture--including we, as parents--subjects girls. Readers who know Damour from Untangled or the New York Times, or from her regular appearances on CBS News, will be drawn to this important new contribution to understanding and supporting today's girls. Praise for Under Pressure "Truly a must-read for parents, teachers, coaches, and mentors wanting to help girls along the path to adulthood."--Julie Lythcott-Haims, New York Times bestselling author of How to Raise an Adult

Girls in Power

A consideration of menstruation in the lives of teenage girls--and in the lives of teenage boys.

American Girls: Social Media and the Secret Lives of Teenagers

Instagram. Whisper. Yik Yak. Vine. YouTube. Kik. Ask.fm. Tinder. The dominant force in the lives of girls coming of age in America today is social media. What it is doing to an entire generation of young women is the subject of award-winning Vanity Fair writer Nancy Jo Sales's riveting and explosive American Girls. With extraordinary intimacy and precision, Sales captures what it feels like to be a girl in America today. From Montclair to Manhattan and Los Angeles, from Florida and Arizona to Texas and Kentucky, Sales crisscrossed the country, speaking to more than two hundred girls, ages thirteen to nineteen, and documenting a massive change in the way girls are growing up, a phenomenon that transcends race, geography, and household income. American Girls provides a disturbing portrait of the end of childhood as we know it and of the inexorable and ubiquitous experience of a new kind of adolescence-one dominated by new social and sexual norms, where a girl's first crushes and experiences of longing and romance occur in an accelerated electronic environment; where issues of identity and self-esteem are magnified and transformed by social platforms that provide instantaneous judgment. What does it mean to be a girl in America in 2016? It means coming of age online in a hypersexualized culture that has normalized extreme behavior, from pornography to the casual exchange of nude photographs; a culture rife with a virulent new strain of sexism and a sometimes self-undermining notion of feminist empowerment; a culture in which teenagers are spending so much time on technology and social media that they are not developing basic communication skills. From beauty gurus to slut-shaming to a disconcerting trend of exhibitionism, Nancy Jo Sales provides a shocking window into the troubling world of today's teenage girls. Provocative and urgent, American Girls is destined to ignite a much-needed conversation about how we can help our daughters and sons negotiate unprecedented new challenges.

The Lolita Effect

In this expos of how young girls are sexualized in today's media, the author uses examples from popular TV shows, magazines, movies, and Web sites to show for the first time all the ways in which sexuality is defined in media--often in ways detrimental to girls' healthy development.