Raising A Daughter: Parents and the Awakening of a Healthy Woman by Jeanne and Don Elium

I have a habit of reading many books at once...and so, I've recently finished a lot of books around the same time.  Raising a Daughter was given to me by a friend.  I was helping her go through her books and since her daughter is now older and she had never read it, she asked if I'd want it.  Why not?  A year later, I began to read.  And then, it took me another year to finish it.  It wasn't bad, really.  But, it didn't keep my attention enough to finish reading it right away.  Nothing new jumped out at me.

I am generally pretty careful about parenting books.  I realize that my value system is different than some of those books I've scanned.  I don't like reading books that disregard a girls' divine qualities and instead try to empower them to be equal to the boys in the world.  It makes me sad and though I want to raise my daughters to be strong and confident, I also want to nurture their nurturing side.  Callie, as tough and rough as she is, is also sweetly tender and kind.  I want her to develop ALL parts of her, not just the side that will be competitive in the board room.  I felt that Raising a Daughter not only recognizes but also addresses some of these divine qualities of women.  I appreciated that.  I was surprised at one chapter that talked about helping our daughters recognize the whisperings of the Spirit and how to help them trust those feelings and promptings.  No, this book is not written by religious authors.  Or, maybe they are, but you would never know.  They keep their writing very secular.  But what they wrote rang very true to my own beliefs and values.

It was a good read.  I didn't walk away with any new knowledge, but it's nice to have a refresher on some of those important parenting...things...stuff...whatever.  Would I recommend it?  Sure.  Will I keep it on my shelves as a parenting reference?  Probably not.  But the cover is super cute.