You'd Be So Pretty If . . .: Teaching Our Daughters to Love Their Bodies--Even When We Don't Love Our Own by Dara Chadwick

From the Publisher

From You’d Be So Pretty If...
I grew up listening to my mom bemoan everything from the size of her thighs to the shape of her eyes. So you can imagine my dismay the first time someone exclaimed, “You look just like your mother!”

Every mom wants her daughter to feel confident in her own skin, but may often unconsciously impose her own “body image blueprint.” Dara Chadwick’s You’d Be So Pretty If... reveals:

• What girls learn when Mom diets
• How to talk to your daughter about healthy eating and exercise habits
• The trigger words that set off a body image crisis
• How to recognize a budding eating disorder

With humor and compassion, You’d Be So Pretty If... offers parents fresh and useful strategies for conveying that success isn’t negated by carrying extra pounds—or guaranteed by keeping them off.

Publishers Weekly

Chadwick, who wrote a Weight Loss Diary column for Shape, lost 26 pounds over the course of one year. During the process, the mother of two worried about how her weight-loss project would affect her 13-year-old daughter, and she began to explore her own feelings about how her mother had negatively influenced her body image. Through interviews with experts, mothers and daughters, and personal reflection, Chadwick concludes that moms hold a crucial key to how girls will feel about themselves for years to come. An essential step in raising girls with a positive body image, Chadwick maintains, is to be a positive role model; she encourages mothers to "walk the talk" by following a healthy life style, exuding confidence and by refraining from disparaging their own bodies. Helpful boxes on how to help girls build a positive body image conclude each chapter, with tips ranging from respecting girls' clothing choices to helping them find a physical activity or sport. Chadwick, who suffered from anorexia as a teen, emphasizes the importance of stressing health over weight loss. This is a thoughtful guide for moms who are rightly concerned about the body image legacy they will inevitably pass on to their daughters. (May)

Product Details

• Table of Contents

Table of Contents