Talking with Your Daughter About Best Friends and Mean Girls

8 Great Dates

Non-Fiction - Parenting
208 Pages
Reviewed on 09/02/2013
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    Book Review

Reviewed by Karen Pirnot for Readers' Favorite

Talking with Your Daughter About Best Friends and Mean Girls is a wonderful primer for parents. Written by Dannah Gresh, the book details problems common to girls ages 8-12. It gives practical advice on how parents might approach talking with their daughters about resolving these interpersonal issues. In particular, the mother-daughter relationship is addressed relative to how forthcoming the mother should be while still allowing a reasonable amount of independence for the child. The author suggests a series of "dates" which allow the child and the parent to explore issues which might already have arisen, along with those to come. The dates are accompanied by activities so that the child can feel relaxed and comfortable in discussing things which might otherwise be hidden from the parent. Among the issues discussed are feelings towards parents, siblings, best friends, boys, and God.

Mean girls are described as those who routinely exclude others, set inappropriate rules of interaction, engage in bullying, or encourage feelings of jealousy in others. The preteen child is encouraged to think of uncomfortable situations and then talk about what she did. The parent may also bring up a situation that may not already have occurred and explore with the girl the various ways the situation might be handled. Bible verses are brief but interspersed throughout the discussions and exercises so as to tie in the Scripture with the practical everyday situations faced by the girl.

I liked the easy manner in which the book was written. It is not intimidating to the young child and the exercises are meant to stimulate the imagination so that the child will have a ready repertoire of responses for whenever awkward interpersonal situations occur. This is a lovely and practical book for parents.