Mother Talk - BODY DRAMA!

As the mother of an almost-teenage-girl, I was VERY glad to be able to get on this blog-tour for Mother Talk! If you've got a daughter--even a little one, because she's going to grow up eventually whether you want her to or not--you need to check out this book: BODY DRAMA, by Nancy Redd.

At first, I'd heard that some of the mothers found this book a bit too intense--and it IS intense, in many ways. There are NAKED PICTURES! OF BREASTS! ALL SIZES OF BOOBIES! AND VULVAS! ALL SHAPES OF VAJAYJAYS!

Sure, I felt a little weird when I first took a peek--but seriously, how many of you haven't wondered what other women looked like under their clothes?
OH COME ON.
Don't act like you never thought can her boobs POSSIBLY be that perky or is she just wearing a really great bra? or how does her ass MOVE like that and not jiggle?
YOU HAVE. Admit it.

So yeah, lots of pictures.
But here's the great thing: if you're not comfortable handing the book over to your daughter to read alone, it IS completely necessary for YOU to read this because it will serve as a guidebook when your girl starts asking you questions. Or when she starts feeling bad and uncomfortable and so not confident about her body.

AND SHE WILL. You did, didn't you?

Don't you want to be able to help your kid through her hormonally charged, angsty, ugly-duckling teenage years? If the words don't come easy to you, this book will help you through it. READ IT TOGETHER.

Body Drama covers stinky sweat, bacne, zits, piercings that aren't healing, periods, uneven breasts, toenail fungus, skidmarks and less than "perfect" bodies.
It helps girls (AND WOMEN, because I sure took away a greater appreciation for my own body too) learn to love what they've got, because underneath our skin we're all just girls who want to feel good about ourselves.

The language of the book, the style, is geared for young women/teenagers--not a lot of technical two-dollar hard to understand & pronounce words. It offers sidebar information like WHAT could be causing the discharge or HOW to make a face scrub out of...ASPIRIN! Body scrub out of COFFEE GROUNDS!

And so, so much more.
Read Body Drama for yourself.
Then read it with your daughter.
She's not ready for all the information just yet?
Do what I did...go through the sections pertinent to your immediate needs, TOGETHER.

I'm lucky, I guess...as a single mom, we're VERY casual about nudity around here.
I have not been in the bathroom alone since my daughter learned to walk. Maybe that made it a little easier for me to discuss some of the issues with her, about pubic hair and shaving your pits & legs and WHY HER SWEAT SMELLS SO FREAKING BAD when she forgets deodorant (and MAN OH MAN! *GAK*). We're comfortable seeing each other in the nude.
Granted, if this were a two-parent family, things might be different. But in this particular situation, I'm glad that we're able to be easy with each other on body issues.

IT. IS. IMPORTANT.


With all the girls thinking anorexia and/or bulimia is SO COOL or necessary--websites devoted on "how to do it correctly"--let's make our girls comfortable with WHO THEY ARE, no matter what the package looks like.

Srsly. That's just window dressing, anyway.
Everyone knows the good stuff is INSIDE the package.