Author(s): Dara Chadwick

For Girls | For Carers | Specifically for Girls

This is a guide to breaking the mother-daughter cycle of bad body image. Explores the origins of body image and how it is passed from generation to generation. Through conversations with numerous mothers, girls, and grown daughters as well as experiences with Chadwick's own daughter, readers will learn not only about the powerful effect that a mother's self-image has on her daughter, but also why it's crucial to break the cycle of bad body image. The book tackles issues from healthy exercise to eating disorders, including: what girls hear and see when their mums talk about their own bodies and behave in body-unfriendly way; what works (and what doesn't) when you want to talk to your daughter about her eating and exercise habits; how to teach your daughter to look critically at media images and opt out of the comparison game; understanding the 'trigger' words and gestures that set off a body image crisis; how the opposite sex affects a girl's developing body image; Ways to convey that success isn't negated by carrying extra pounds - or guaranteed by keeping them off; helping girls deal with the pressure to diet; how to recognize a budding eating disorder in your daughter; and, examining how body image comes full circle and affects the mother-daughter bond. With humor, compassion and great respect for the deep bond between mums and their girls, "You'd Be So Pretty If..." gets to the heart of how Mum shapes our feelings about our bodies and how those feelings affect the way we move through the world-as well as what we believe is possible. Chadwick offers a fresh perspective on why a healthy body image is the greatest gift we can offer, not just to our daughters and granddaughters, but to ourselves.