Swimming upstream : parenting girls for resilience in a toxic culture /

Swimming upstream : parenting girls for resilience in a toxic culture /

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Bibliographic Details
Author / Creator:	Choate, Laura Hensley, author.
Imprint:	New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2016]
Description:	xix, 279 pages ; 24 cm
Language:	English
Subject:	Girls. Daughters. Parenting. Resilience (Personality trait) Girls -- Conduct of life. Daughters. Girls. Girls -- Conduct of life. Parenting. Resilience (Personality trait)
Format:	Print Book
URL for this record:	http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/10380478

Hidden Bibliographic Details
ISBN:	9780199391134 0199391130
Notes:	Includes bibliographical references and index.
Summary:	"Many of today's parents struggle with their approach in raising a healthy daughter within our complex culture. Never before have girls been faced with so many pressures to live up to confusing and often contradictory cultural expectations. These burdens are intense, newly evolving, and are affecting girls at earlier and earlier ages. As girls of all ages listen to the messages of popular culture, they gather that their worth is based upon a perfect appearance, the ability to gain attention and approval from others, and their accrual of accomplishments. As girls absorb these expectations, they begin to believe they are not good enough as they are. They are not able to develop an authentic sense of self because they lose themselves in trying to become what the culture dictates. It is not surprising that with all of these pressures, girls are experiencing stress, emptiness, and skyrocketing rates of mental health problems. Parents know that something is very wrong with today's culture, but they can't quite put a name on the problem. Many feel helpless as popular cultural influences pervade modern life at every turn. This book, however, provides parents with reassurance that their influence can make a significant difference in their daughters' development. Parents are empowered to make positive choices to help girls learn to resist cultural pressures and to successfully navigate the transitions they will face in their journey as girls in today's culture. Written in an engaging, practical style, Laura Choate draws from research and counseling literature to provide parents with tools they can use to teach their daughters the power of resilience. The book begins with a portrait of the contemporary adolescent girl's environment, including an in-depth exploration of cultural pressures and an overview of how these pressures influence girls' physical, cognitive, and social development. In the second part of the book, parents learn about five resilience dimensions that girls need not only to survive, but to thrive as they develop during girlhood and adolescence. Practical tools for instilling resilience regarding girls' positive body image, healthy relationships with friends and romantic partners, and management of high-pressure academic environments through a redefinition of what it means to be successful are all discussed extensively"-- "This book empowers parents by providing needed information and strategies they can use with their daughters to build a strong foundation of resilience, which in turn gives girls the tools necessary to navigate our toxic landscape"--

Description
Summary:	A guide to help parents teach their daughters to resist negative cultural messages.<br> <br> Never before have adolescent girls faced so many confusing and contradictory expectations. From a young age, popular culture teaches girls that their worth is based on their appearance, their ability to gain attention, and an ever-increasing accrual of accomplishments. With such unattainable standards, it is no wonder that many girls experience stress, self-doubt, and even mental health problems. Girls struggle to develop an authentic sense of self, even as they attempt to meet a set of impossible cultural expectations.<br> <br> Many parents feel helpless against the onslaught of negative influences targeting their daughters, but in Swimming Upstream: Parenting Girls for Resilience in a Toxic Culture, Laura Choate offers a message of reassurance. This book provides parents with a set of straightforward tools they can use to help their daughters navigate the trials and demands of contemporary girlhood. Choate draws upon years of research and counseling literature to teach parents how to instill the power of resilience in their daughters, including developing a positive body image, maintaining healthy relationships with friends and romantic partners, and navigating high-pressure academic environments. Based on cutting-edge research, this book contains the strategies that parents need to prepare their daughters with the life skills they need to resist destructive cultural influences.<br> <br> Though the journey through modern girlhood may be complicated - and even treacherous - this guide offers a user-friendly way for parents to help their daughters thrive in the midst of the negative pressures of modern culture. Practical and engaging, Swimming Upstream is a must-read for parents of girls of all ages.
Physical Description:	xix, 279 pages ; 24 cm
Bibliography:	Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN:	9780199391134 0199391130