How was your weekend? Did you get a chance to rest, connect or was it crazy and hectic? I often feel like when I look at the way I spend my time off it is a reflection of the way I am living my life and the interaction I am having with the world around me. It all gets magnified. As everyone here in the US was celebrating Memorial Day weekend, I (together with the rest of the Jewish world) was celebrating the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, this holiday celebrates Moses coming down from the mountain with the 10 commandments….
What Do You Tell Yourself? What Do You Tell Your Daughter?
When I was a young girl, nothing annoyed me more than being told I could not do something because I was a girl. I remember, as if it was yesterday,that after giving my Bat Mitzvah speech, my aunt came up to me and said “ You spoke so beautifully and intelligently, just like a boy.” I was furious. To me, this was not a compliment! I now know that she meant well and, to her, this was a genuine compliment and expression of love. In the last couple of years, we have seen more and more ad campaigns attempting to…
Turns out I am a drama queen
Do you live in the drama? Does your daughter? I never thought I did. While my life has been full of events that some would call dramatic, from physical injury. Technical mishaps to loosing loved ones, I never saw these as dramatic. To me they were just what was happening, they happened, I dealt with it and moved on. In fact, when they did happen, I would do all I could to play it down as “not a big deal” and if I could I would simply disappear because I did not want the spotlight shone on me. Over the…
It’s Not the End of the World….
I was working with one of my clients recently, helping her think about ways to support her younger daughter who is just entering puberty. One idea was to enlist the help of her older teen sister. As we were talking strategy and ideas, my client asked if we could use the same kind of approach when it came to academics. This started a great conversation about what is really important in school – is it that her daughter gets good grades, is it that she excels, and to what end? She was clear that for her, the most important thing…
We Have Serious Girl Problems
A few days ago, I got a call from one of my 12 year old clients, who we will call Debbie, that started with “We have serious girl problems!”. I was not sure what to expect, but soon it became clear. She had gotten her period a few months back, and was still trying to deal with this new part of her life. As can happen with young girls, she was getting her period on a cycle of every two and half to three weeks. This was overwhelming, to say the least, for a girl on the verge of womanhood….