The Mother-Daughter Project: How Mothers and Daughters Can Band Together, Beat the Odds, and Thrive Throughadolescence

Reviving Ophelia meets The Mother- Daughter Book Club in a book that offers a proven model for staying connected through adolescence

There is no comment more troubling to the mother of a young girl than“she loves you now, but just wait‛til sh‛s a teenager” Ten years ago, SuEllen Hamkins and Renee Schultz, psychotherapy professionals with a combined forty year‛ experience and both mothers of then seven-year-old daughters, created The Mother-Daughter Project with several other women in their community, with the hope of disproving this damaging assumption. With their young daughters, the group met regularly to speak frankly about such issues as girl‛ friendships (and aggression), puberty, the medi‛s influence on their self-image and esteem, drugs, and sexuality.

As their daughters matured, the mothers marveled at the strength and confidence with which the girls thrived through adolescence. The Project had succeeded in creating a haven from the many perils of teen culture. Equally important, it helped the mothers navigate their own fears and concerns about adolescence with integrity and grace.

At once simple and revolutionary, this book details the success of the Mother-Daughter Projec‛s groundbreaking model, providing the reader with a road map for strengthening her bond with her own daughter, and providing strategies for staying close through adolescence and beyond.

"Psychotherapists Hamkins and Schultz and a small group of other moms began the Mother-Daughter Project when their daughters were seven. Over the next 10 years, the girls and their mothers met on a regular basis to help the girls weather adolescence while remaining 'strong, confident and whole.' Since their initial meeting, dozens of mom-daughter groups have sprung up around the world and the authors have become speakers on the subject, claiming that their simple solution to keep daughters and mothers close during potentially turbulent times turned out to be a resounding success. Not only were these meetings a safe haven for the girls, but they also provided a wellspring of support for the mothers themselves. The authors hypothesize that teen girls do better in a close and loving relationship with their mothers, and that separation-and the animosity that often accompanies it-isn't necessary in order for girls to grow into independent, confident adults. The prose can be long-winded when introducing the rationale for forming this sort of nurturing club, but the second part of the book delves into the hands-on process. Included are activity ideas (such as a special pre-menstruation ceremony or mom/daughter slumber parties) and discussion guides for year-by-year issues from seven to 17 (e.g., safety, values, money, sex and independence). Authors Hamkins and Schultz offer women practical ways to help their daughters embrace adolescence within an empowering 'circle of love.'" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

At once simple and revolutionary, this book details the success of the Mother-Daughter Project's groundbreaking model, providing readers with a road map for staying close through adolescence and beyond.

SuEllen Hamkins, M.D., was for twelve years the psychiatrist for Smith College. She now has a private practice specializing in wome‛s mental health.

Renee Schultz, M.A., has been a marriage and family therapist for over twenty years.