My Little Girl is Growing Up

Challenges Multiple pressures Media saturated culture Family, peers, school, health issues Media saturated culture Social networking, Internet, TV, phones Gender roles/expectations Unhelpful messages Bullying and violence in schools School achievement Body image

Be sure to please others How do we support young people in growing up whole and move beyond the cultural limitations of gender roles? GIRL BOX Be beautiful Be skinny Be sexy Be sure to please others

Tasks for Girls Obstacles Transition from childhood to adolescence Join the larger culture and develop identity, independence and relationship skills Path to a healthy development Obstacles The message from popular culture is often debasing and dangerous Pressure to conform can result in risky and dangerous values and behavior

Friendship In-depth relationship with many important components Be a friend to make a friend Apply foundations of friendship to parent-daughter relationship Importance of trust Comfortable conversations

Individuality Girls don’t always strive to be unique Popularity and trends Tough job for parents It’s OK to deviate from “cookie-cutter” image Uniqueness is valuable

Harassment Verbal, physical, or sexuality Two common forms: bullying and teasing Lessons for daughters: How to ward off potential violators What is appropriate physical contact NO MEANS NO