{Book Review} Bringing Up Girls: Practical Advice and Encouragement for Those Shaping the Next Generation of Women

About the Book

(From the inside cover)
Youve got daughters? Then youve got questions.

Parents, teachers, and others involved in shaping the character of girls have a lot on their minds:

  • Are girls really fundamentally different from boys? If so, should they be treated differently?
  • Whoever said that girls are sugar and spice and everything nice never met my teenager. What can I do?
  • My adolescent daughter seems to be on an emotional roller coaster. One minute shes giddy with excitement; the next shes moody and withdrawn. Is this normal?
  • As a mom, I so badly want to be best friends with my daughter. Why isnt it working out the way I dreamed?
  • How does a dads role in his daughters life influence her character and decisionsincluding her eventual choice of a husband?
  • How can grandparents contribute to raising a healthy granddaughter?
  • Whats the best way to educate girls?
  • How are girls affected when their parents divorce?
  • What should we be doing to shape the next generation of women?

In Bringing Up Girls, Dr. James Dobson, Americas foremost authority on parenting, tackles these and many other questions, offering wisdom and encouragement based on a firm foundation of biblical principles.

My Review

I was really excited to read this book about raising girls by Dr. Dobson, a respected psychologist and counselor. Ive read another book by him, Dare to Discipline, and was able to take away some great principles for child-raising from it. I didnt agree with everything, but I believe that when reading books like this you have to be able to take away the good and learn from it and just ignore whatever doesnt fit with your family. Not every child can be raised the same way successfully. I opened Bringing Up Girls with the same frame of mind knowing that I may not agree with everything but feeling honored to be able to pick the brain of a Christian dad who has raised a daughter and who has helped many, many people solve problems in childraising. Im not having problems but want to be prepared for sure!

In the first few chapters, Dobson talks about:
– The challenges our daughters face nowadays such as low self-esteem (wanting to be beautiful in the worlds eyes).
– Why girls (toddlers and teenagers) act the way they do (and how and why theyre different from boys).
– How to teach girls to be ladies (basically manners and morals).

He also has a section in which he sat down with 16 college-age women and talked to them about their relationships with their fathers. It was really enlightening and maybe something a father would want to read. I also liked his chapter on Why Daddies Matter for those dads who might not realize how significant they are in their daughters lives how much of an influence they are in their lives.

Dr. Dobson is a Christian and therefore this book brings a lot of the word of God into the principles of raising your daughter to be a Godly woman. But I do believe this is a book that could benefit anyone, especially if theyre needing advice on a difficult situation involving their daughter. Dobson talks about culture, consequences, puberty, bullies and friends, and much more.

When I first picked up the book, I thought it to be very long and was overwhelmed at first (is raising daughters this complicated?). Well, of course it is. 😉 But I was happy to see that a few of the chapters are in question and answer form. Dobson answers many questions that parents have had for him (he knows what these questions are since he hosted a radio show for years and took a vast number of calls and letters). Some of the ones that I was especially interested in involved daughters being people pleasers, behavior issues in toddlers and young children, and early puberty in girls. The way the rest of the book is divided into chapters makes it easy to read and pick and choose what you want to especially read about, too.

I felt I was able to take away many helpful principles after reading this book. There were some things I didnt know and many things Ill be somewhat prepared for now that Ive read about them. I think the most helpful part for now, with our daughter being a toddler still, was being able to read to my husband why girls act the way they do how our brains are wired differently, reading about the struggles my daughter will face (well, Im a girl so I know), and then a few healthy habits for a happy home like having dinner with your children regularly, etc. I can gladly recommend this book to parents of daughters of any age!

Want a Copy?

Bringing Up Girls is currently available in hardcover and retails for $25.99. Buy it on Amazon.com for $17.08 now!

I received this book free of charge as part of the Tyndale Blog Review Network in exchange for an honest review. I was not compensated in any other way for this post. All opinions are my own!

I Review For The Tyndale Blog Network