You are beautiful. You are valuable. You are enough.
In a book based on her run-away blog post “Ten Things I Want to Tell Teenage Girls,” which garnered more than 2 million views in two weeks, Kate Conner calls us to action in Enough. We all have teenage girls in our lives who we love, whether it’s a sister, friend, or daughter. Kate has identified 10 things these girls need to hear today from someone who loves her.
Peppered with wit and laced with grace, Kate’s list tackles relevant issues like Facebook, emotions, drama, tanning beds, modesty, and flirtation. Woven into each chapter is a powerful message of worth that transcends age, and will touch the souls of women, young and old alike: You are beautiful. You are valuable. You are enough.
A former youth-worker, wife to a college minister, and a young mom in her twenties, Conner stands squarely in generational gap, the perfect place from which to bridge it. Conner offers herself as a translator, helping you to speak your teenager’s language and equipping you with a fresh perspective from which to engage your teenage girl—one that may enable her to truly hear your heart (and your wisdom) for the first time since puberty.
I was so so super excited to get this book. If there is one thing I’m an advocate of, it’s letting our girls know they are enough. To have them shut out the voice of the world and listen to the only voice that matters.
I took this book along with us on vacation, hoping to have it read by the time we returned. The first night we were there, I took it out on the porch with us. I got comfortable and ready for a good night of reading.
The first few pages I totally agreed with but then I came across a paragraph that made me stop. Did I misread it? I read it again. Nope, that’s what it said. I though about it and read it again. I had Joe read it. I just couldn’t get past that one statement. It might be me overreacting. It might have just struck a nerve with me that it wouldn’t strike with anyone else. This is what it said:
Men like to look at women. Even married men. Even happily married men. Even good, kind, respectful, stand-up men. Even Christian men. Men are hardwired to enjoy women.
While I do agree with that statement, for some reason I found that offensive. To me, it made it sound like happily married Christian men like to look at “women” and it’s okay because they are hardwired that way. As in everything, we each have our own opinion. Wanting to give the author the benefit of doubt, I continued to read it. And boy, am I thankful I did. Had I stopped there, I would have missed so so so many good points. Some that I’ve even blogged or wrote on FB about myself!
She goes on to touch on 10 subjects we should tell our teen girls…
1. If you choose to wear shirts that show off your boobs, you will attract boys.
2. Don’t go to a tanning bed {this one I’m not so sure of, this Mama loves to tan}
3. When you talk about your friends “anonymously” on Facebook, we know exactly who you’re talking about.
4. Newsflash: the number of times you say “I hate drama” is a pretty good indicator of how much you love drama.
5. “Follow your heart” is probably the worst advice ever.
6. Never let a man make you feel weak or inferior because you are an emotional being.
7. Smoking is not cool.
8. Stop saying things like, “I don’t care what anyone thinks about me.”
9. Don’t play coy or stupid or helpless to get attention.
10. You are beautiful. You are enough.
I know, right?!? Those are some amazingly honest and TRUE points our girls need to realize and remember. What I eventually realized is Kate is just honest and forward, not holding anything back {like another girl I know}. Had I of judged this book by that little quip that I didn’t like, I would have missed out on a great book. So I guess the old adage don’t judge a book by a yucky paragraph is true.
B & H Publishing Group provided this book to me for free in exchange for this honest review.
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