Six Ways to Keep the "Little" in Your Girl: Guiding Your Daughter from Her Tweens to Her Teens (Secret Keeper Girl Series) [Paperback]

Dannah Gresh (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2010 | Series: Secret Keeper Girl Series

Bestselling author, speaker, and founder of the Secret Keeper Girl conferences, Dannah Gresh shares with moms the secret to helping today's girls grow up confident, grace-filled, and strong in their faith.

Studies show that the foundation for an emotionally healthy teen girl is built between the ages of 8-12 and that a good relationship with mom is one of the most important factors. So when the world wants girls to grow up too fast, how does a mother help her young daughter navigate the stormy waters of boy-craziness, modesty and body image, media, Internet safety, and more? With a warm, transparent style, Dannah Gresh shares six ways a mom can help protect and guide her daughter, including:

• help her celebrate her body in a healthy way
• unbrand her when the world tries to buy and sell her
• unplug her from a plugged-in world
• dream with her about her prince, and more

This wonderful resource also provides moms a Connection IQ Inventory to test their mom- daughter relationship, creative and fun activities to do together, and Scriptures for the mom to pray for her daughter.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Dannah Gresh is a bestselling author, a speaker, and the creator of the Secret Keeper Girl live events. Her books include Six Ways to Keep the “Little” in Your Girl, Six Ways to Keep the “Good” in Your Boy, 8 Great Dates for Moms and Daughters, the bestselling And the Bride Wore White, and Lies Young Women Believe (coauthored with Nancy Leigh DeMoss). She and her husband have a son and two daughters and live in Pennsylvania.

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Harvest House Publishers (September 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0736929797
• ISBN-13: 978-0736929790
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.4 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (59 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,914 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Dannah Gresh is a best-selling author and the founder of Pure Freedom, (purefreedom.org) and is the creator of Secret Keeper Girl (secretkeepergirl.com). She is a frequent guest who is called upon to defend the conservative position of abstinence in mediums such as The Chicago Tribune, USA Today, and TIME. Her most recent best-sellers are "Six Ways To Keep The Little In Your Girl: Guiding Your Tween To Her Teens" and "What Are You Waiting For: The One Thing No One Ever Tells You About Sex." She lives with her family and a wonderful menagerie of pets in the Happy Valley of State College, Pennsylvania.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars To the point and challenging October 1, 2010

By J. Mylin

Format:Paperback

This isn't a book that just tells you to "be a good mom" without giving any practical advice as to how and why. Six Ways gives fantastic, well-researched information about the tween years and what's going on in a person's brain during those years. She then translates that into why it's critical to focus on helping your daughter form her convictions and beliefs during those years. Suddenly I understood that my daughter's questions about forgiveness, faith and trust were not only normal, but very healthy! I realized that her questions aren't attacks on me as a mom, but they are critical to the foundation of the faith she will walk in the rest of her days. This is one book I'm telling all guardians of tween girls to read.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Informative and Encouraging August 13, 2011

By WAVEmom

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

After reading this book, you will have an understanding of the brain development of tween girls, and just how important it is to form their values on the issues of modesty, boys, sex, etc before they become teenagers. The tween years are the value formation years. This is when values will be set in a girl's brain; values she will act on as a teen. It is vital that we connect with our daughters in order to pass on healthy values. Dannah has included a connection IQ quiz as a tool for mothers to become aware of where their relationship with their daughters stand. The quiz opened my eyes to some ways I can better connect with my daughter and inspired me to take action. In another post, I will list some ideas for mother/daughter dates that I have gleaned from searching the internet.

I love this quote from Dannah: "So the question for you now - in her tweens - is not "Should I talk to her about boys, and sex, and periods, and other stuff that scares me silly?" The question is "How do I talk to her about boys, and sex, and periods, and other stuff that scares me silly?" without robbing her of her innocence?" What a great point Dannah makes! I think that is what many mothers are afraid of: that if we raise these issues with our daughters too early, we will rob them of that girlhood innocence. Well, rest assured, Dannah does a fantastic job of providing you with ideas and words that are gentle, but do the job.

You will learn about the importance of role play even during the tween years. Has your daughter seemed to lose interest in such creative play? Dannah shares three ideas on how to encourage her to play roles in unconventional ways. Such play is directly linked to that value formation that is vital at this time in her life. Wonderful information on the selection of age-appropriate, wholesome dolls is shared, along with which dolls have been proven to be harmful to tween girls and why!

There is a chapter that discusses how to approach the topic of menstruation with your daughter; here you will find ideas on stories you can share with her, scriptures to use, a special basket you may want to put together, and a specific DVD is recommended. Other chapters provide information on protecting your tween girl from negative media effects that can rob her of innocence, ways to make your daughter's inner beauty her focus, and fun activities you can do to form her values on modesty. Dannah includes ideas to help mothers better know the friends their daughters are spending time with, shift a girl's focus away from boys to her future husband, and even some dating suggestions (for when she is older of course!)

The part that I actually found the most shocking - and encouraging - was when Dannah wrote about discussing sex with girls this young. Honestly, I knew that I would bring up the topic of menstruation soon, but I hadn't thought much about telling my girl about sex. I guess I figured that could wait till she's 13 or so! But Dannah encourages mothers to discuss said issue with their daughters by the time they are 9, and she explains why. She actually suggests specific words to say, and I think I have found those words to be the most inspiring and confidence building advice from all the great thoughts in this book! The words are gentle and beautiful, but direct and honest. What a gem:)

I am so glad that I read this book. I am excited to read more books from Dannah Gresh in the next few months, books that provide ideas and resources for dates and devotionals with my daughter. After reading Six Ways to Keep the Little in Your Girl, I feel much more confident to walk this journey with my daughter in a beautiful, fun and connecting way!

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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Great resource for a mom of a tween girl September 27, 2010

By IntentionalMom

Format:Paperback

This is a great resource for moms of tween girls. Good balance between research and information and practical tips. Love her focus on parent-child connectedness...I think we all need a reminder of just how important that is. Looking forward to buying 8 Great Dates next...and maybe a visit to a SKG event very soon!