Enough As She Is audiobook

Well, I wish I would have read this when it first came out in 2018 as it might have helped me better navigate the phase of life my then h.s. junior was in. This book's advice still resonates with me as a parent of a college soph and I found several nuggets that would apply to my 40-something self, too. The target audience is parents of high-school and college-age women. The book is full of practical analysis from a field researcher and includes real-life, relatable scenarios. Chapters are clearly outlined, allowing the reader to pick and choose subjects most relevant. The chapters can also serve a jump-off points when shared openly for parent-child conversations. The book has a solid narrative, so a straight read through works well. The book does not delve into issues of gender identity, sexuality, nor does it provide parenting approaches when a child has a clinical diagnoses such as depression, anxiety, ADHD, etc. This is a much lighter, preemptive approach. If facing a crisis-level situation, other resources will be more valuable.Enough as She Is provides solid strategies and research-based advice without being preachy or focused on "girl-power."

This is a good one for parents of girls who are concerned about depression, anxiety, self confidence, and resiliency. Current research and interviews are used to illustrate what girls are up against in today's culture and the author offers concrete ways to address major issues. It, however, does not address diversity well. While she mentions race, income, and immigrant families here and there it is largely to point out some major differences- so clearly additional books and resources are needed to cover the breadth of girls.I find I have to read several of these types of books on similar topics before everything really sinks in and I can envision how to implement changes in how I parent. I found quite a bit of overlap between this book and three others I recently read: How to Raise an Adult, Excellent Sheep, and Social Justice Parenting. Big take aways for me: *What are your family values? What do you emphasize and model for your kids? *Do you create a space for her to take risk & rebound from failure?*Are goals made too large & expectations too high?*Do you model self-compassion & silencing the inner critic?*Is everything already laid out for her or does she have choice & control in making her own path? Is there space for the unknowns?

This is a great book for parents and teachers of girls ages 10-25! It describes the struggles adolescent girls must face. It tells research related to those struggles, and recommends how parents can help their daughters to overcome these struggles.

This is a very important book in today's world. Girls and young women are under an overwhelming onslaught of perfection. Getting into the right school, having enough AP classes and/or sports, etc. It never seems to end. If a girl is seen as not being perfect, then something must be wrong with them. Rachel Simmons proves that this is the furthest thing from the truth.Her main argument is that from a young age girls are told things like "you can be anything you want" or "if you set your mind to it, you can do it." While this might seem like good things to say, they may actually be doing more harm than good. Yes, women have come a long way over the last several decades (like running for president and running companies), but many times that comes at a high cost--young women's mental health. How much is too much? I've seen it, and have lived through many of the things that Simmons discusses, taking an overload of college prep courses to get into a good school, all while having to look flawless. Even extending into college, needing to know what it is you'd like to do for the rest of their lives by age 18 is insane (I didn't know what I wanted to do at that age, so sue me).I appreciated Simmons' calling it the "College Application Industrial Complex" because it's so very accurate. What are all the AP classes, sports, and other activities really getting you and your daughter? The true answer is probably something along the lines of "not as happy as either of us would like." An example: I live in California, where going to a University of California (or UC as they're more commonly called here) is somehow better and more prestigious than going to a California State University (again, commonly called a CSU). Admittedly, the UCs do have more stringent requirements, but does it offer a better education? I started my college career at a community college before transferring to a CSU, where I believe I got an education that was gasp just as good as one at a UC. But for some reason, the UC is more of a "brand name," I guess you would call it (and I might add, at a cheaper price). I'm not saying that people shouldn't apply or go to a UC school, all I'm saying is that find a school that fits your daughter the best, not the one that makes the parents look or feel better about their standing in life because that isn't your kid's job.Another point in Simmons' book that I thought made sense was the way that young women seem to have to be pretty all the time. You literally can't escape from it. Girls are told that they should be kind and pretty, more of a seen and not heard. One passage stands out, about how this can follow girls all the to and through college. "In the 1990s, I showed up to college classes in sweats. Today, the roll-out-of-bed look has gone the way of the overhead projector." (page 147) I have also seen this firsthand, why do women need to look like a CEO for a 9:00 am class while many guys show up in pajamas or athletic gear? That has never made sense to me. Whatever you feel most comfortable in, but also practical, is what you should wear. Don't make someone else make you feel as though you aren't good enough because your clothes aren't name brand. Anyway, all in all I think this is an important book.

This was a great read about helping manage your daughter through insecurities and self doubt. How do we help her daughters believe that they are enough as they are in a world that tells them constantly that they are not? And how to we help them cope in an achievement-driven, hyper competitive environment that we have essentially chosen for them. Great read. I’ll read it again when we get closer to the miserable college admissions mess.

Learned a lot about the kid version of me and ways to help both my son and daughter choose to be good solid humans. This was a library acquisition but plan to pick this up down the road for targeted looks. Not a fan of how to parent books so the rating is real.

This book really helped me feel better about myself and my life decisions, and it helped me reflect on the toxic culture around me. It touched on everything from using grades as a means of valuing oneself, to body dysmorphia, to bikini selfies on social media, and to entering the working world after college. It made me understand better the route to happiness in college and beyond and showed me how so many other high achieving girls feel the same way as I do and how so many other girls feel bad when they can’t achieve perfection. I would recommend it to anyone.

Incredibly insightful, helpful book both as a parent and as a teacher. I learned a lot about myself in the process. I highly recommend to anyone who has a daughter or works with girls in any capacity. I know I will be revisiting this as my daughter gets older.

Want healthy and happy daughters? Start here. This is a clear must-read for parents and educators of girls. I read it because of my daughter, but cannot stop thinking about how to implement and shift for the students in my classes as well. For all of my current and recent female students, I recommend this book highly-- it is written for parents, and would be ideal for them to "drive" with you as a passenger, but if that is less tenable than reading it yourself, the information and exercises are critical enough that I'd encourage you to read it on your own if that is your only way in.This book considers the unique challenges and girls face as they grow with impossible standards of beauty, academic success, social success, and all of the other types of success while also being expected to make it look easy. Simmons breaks down the sociological, psychological, and cultural barriers that exist and provides clear information for not only understanding the roots and consequences of the problems, but also provides clear step-by-step activities and conversations to go through with daughters. What she writes about are the things that I see in my 10th grade classroom on a daily basis. Things that I often find myself at a loss to help these young women through. I will definitely be re-reading this book and taking notes. My first time was for a general understanding, but at least one detailed re-visit is absolutely necessary. Probably more. There are other quality books out there about guiding girls into adulthood. This one, though, made me feel both terrified about the current state of affairs but VERY hopeful about the possibilities at the same time.

This book was a little bit pushed upon me by my Boss Man who is pre-reading the book before he gives it to his 12 year old daughter and I thought that this book was absolutely awesome. I am so glad that we, now a days, have informative material like this so easily at our disposal unlike previous generations of parents. I was raised by my grandparents and I would have done anything in the world for them to take and follow at leadt half of the advice that was given throughout the book. My house hold never let anyone know the personal struggles or difficulties that they were going through so me, as a child and adolescent, figured that they simply did everything correctly and that there must be something wrong with me because I was in high school and found school, work, and any type of relationship so difficult. Me as a new parent now want to make sure that my daughter knows I mess up ALL the time and that I don't beat myself up about it. By my family members putting on such a facade constantly, it did more harm than good. I had elevated expectations of my self because of the false reality of the adults in my life putting on. I recommend this book for all parents and expecting parents to read. Even if you no longer have a child that is in high school or college this book she be read. Some of the information was reiterated from previous psychology classes or parenting 101 classes and articles but I definitely took away so much good.

Such a timely and important book for parents of girls (and boys) who daily face extraordinary pressure to effortlessly perform in school, on social media, and with their peers. A reminder that your daughter's teen years aren't one long college application process, and that her ultimate goal is to have the tools and fortitude to navigate life's challenges, build meaningful relationships, and pursue purpose, not perfection. Rachel's voice is approachable, nuanced and compassionate--she gets how our love for our children stokes our fear that getting off the treadmill will mean getting left behind. I especially loved Rachel's reminder that at every stage, our daughters are watching us (even through rolled eyes!)---and that our role as parents is to model the traits and habits that will serve her well throughout her young adult and adult life. As someone who works with Girls Leadership (the organization Rachel co-founded, to help girls build leadership skills, find their voices, and handle conflict in a healthy way), I've had the opportunity to hear Rachel preview many of the themes of this book. If you have the opportunity to attend one of Rachel's workshops or hear her speak, make the time! Highly recommend.

There are a ton of really important messages about parenting and educating young girls and young women in this country. While some of the messages may seem overly obviously, in practice their importance becomes clear. I would love to discuss this book with more women, and women with children in particular, about how this book resonates with them. Despite the fact that it's largely about girls and women, there were also some universal truths and salient questions that may help us *all* think about our lives and actions differently. While Simmons does an admirable job of trying to include a variety of girls (race, sexual identity, etc.), large parts of the book seem relegated to the middle/upper-middle class white world. There are moments where she discusses the lived experience of first-generation college students and those students from immigrant backgrounds and how those experiences play out in a world that demands so much of young women. Certainly worth a read!

After having read The Curse of the Good Girl, Rachel's Simmons' second book, two years ago for school, I'd been following her online, and was really excited to read her new book. I teach girls and see a lot of them in this book; I also see a lot of myself, as I'm really at the top of the age bracket she writes about. While many of the topics are really current, a lot of the influences have clearly been affecting girls for some time, because I feel I experience a lot of the same challenges as the girls she writes about. Her writing is really accessible and while there are a lot of anecdotes, it's all grounded in research. There are tons of strategies for parents; it's slightly less relevant for teachers, but I really would say that if you teach or work with teenage girls, you should read this book.

I want to buy this book and give it to every person I know who is raising or teaching girls. (I even think high school and college girls would benefit from reading about their own culture from an outside perspective.) While many of the statistics about adolescent girls are frightening to parents and teachers, Simmons gives some practical approaches for many of the things their daughters do that cause them grief and worry. I'm also struck at how many of the behaviors are still echoed in our adult lives as women (i.e. rumination, self-criticism). Now I need to find an author who has written a similar book on teenage boys.

This book tackles a lot of challenges facing girls today, including defensive pessimism, the confidence gap, perfectionism, and tons more. The authors main focus, however, is how all these challenges snowball into the mania of the college application industrial complex. The parts I loved most about this book were the stats that served as a foundation for the authors arguments, as well as the practical advice for parents (including scripts to use). Personally, I found the interview excerpts to be less interesting. I would have instead preferred more practical advice or exercises that the author provides in her workshops.