healthykids
Mothers Need to Teach their Daughters
The 3 Things by Jennifer K. Jackman A
fter more than a decade of working closely with girls of all ages, I am often asked to name the most im- portant lessons mothers should reinforce with their
daughters. Extracting from the more prominent themes that arise in psychotherapy, I answer with these three topics:
To BFF or not to BFF? We see it all over the place on T-shirts, stickers, almost anything designed for a girl: BFF (Best Friends Forever) is everywhere. Certainly there is nothing wrong with close con-
nections between particular kids. But girls need to remember that it is OK to have more than one best friend; no relation- ship should be so exclusive that it rules out meaningful relationships with other kids. Girls wrestle with the notion that one friend should be everything to them, especially as they grow and meet new kids with similar interests. The BFF designation has become a kind of ownership, which often results in girls vying for the position and making sure they are never usurped. The BFF craze is cute, but there are lessons within. If you are the mother of a girl, it presents a perfect
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Westchester/Putnam NY Edition
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