Hello there, This week I tried a little experiment. While reading Chapter 20 from Beautiful Girlhood and digging into the same chapter in The Companion Guide to Beautiful Girlhood. I pictured it from the perspective of your tween-age daughter. (Ha! This took some doing!) When the chapter was read from this fresh perspective, portions of it became a little tricky for me …
A New Awakening – Chapter 21
Several years ago my husband and 13-year-old son went on an adventure. We traveled to Venezuela to visit my nineteen-year-old daughter, Laura, who was studying Spanish at the University of the Andes in Merida. We were there for ten eventful days. The country at that time had a great deal of civil unrest and a coup was attempted just a few …
A Christian – Chapter 22
A poet from Indiana named James Whitcomb Riley (1849-1916) probably coined the phrase, “When I see a bird that walks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, I call that bird a duck.” This phrase has been used in numerous different situations to define the actions, practices, and appearances of both people and situations. This week …
The Quiet Hour – Chapter 23
At first glance, this chapter is a “how-to” chapter. And, oh, how I love a good “how-to” book! If you like “how-to books” too, in chapter 23 of The Companion Guide to Beautiful Girlhood I have some directions and suggestions for your daughter to do to help mold and define her Quiet Time. But, dear mom, this chapter is about so much more than …
Making Friends of Books – Chapter 24
C.S. Lewis once said, “You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.” Yes, Mr. Lewis, you are sooo right! I am a reader; I come from a long line of readers, and my husband and I begat readers. In my home of origin, family history was passed down in the oral …
Waking the Love Nature – Chapter 25
Hmmm, what do you do when your daughter suddenly, overnight has a crush on a tween-age heartthrob? Or, maybe she is not that into pop culture and her crush is on the cute boy at church? How is a mom supposed to handle this? It is tough! In my estimation, during this transitional time of her life, it is one of …
Boys as Friends – Chapter 26
Just last week in our study of Beautiful Girlhood and The Companion Guide to Beautiful Girlhood, we talked about the awakening of the love nature in our little girls. It seems to happen overnight! It seems as though yesterday she was playing with dolls and the next day she has put her Barbie away and is thinking more and more about the …
The Girl Who Can Be Trusted – Chapter 27
Ouch! This chapter in Beautiful Girlhood and The Companion Guide to Beautiful Girlhood really hurts my heart. Not because my sweet daughter Laura was a girl who could not be trusted, because she was. But because I was the one who could not be trusted at this age. I groan when I read this chapter because it reminds me of the pain I most likely …
Responsibility – Chapter 28
For most females, it starts very early. This God-created desire is seen in our imaginary games, heard in the sweet little lullabies we sing, and even revealed by the toys we choose when we are just wee little girls. We play house, we sing rock-a-bye-baby and we love our baby dolls. The thumbprint of God can be seen in the …
Choosing a Life Work – Chapter 29
As little girls, we start trying on different identities very early while playing dress-up. Maybe we pretend to be a nurse, a teacher, a Mama, a doctor, or even a garden fairy. But, do we choose our life’s work, or does our life’s work choose us? Let me explain why I ask. After two years of marriage and two children, …