American - Author | -
At the end of the day, most parents have more in common with their teens than they realize. Let's retire the bootstrap mentality and stop telling our teens that their stress is self-imposed.
Rachel Simmons
DayStressParentsEndStopMore
Many of us endure pain in the service of beauty every single day. We rip off our hair with hot wax, jam our soft skin into modern-day corsets, and burn our scalps with dyes.
BeautyServiceDayPainHairSkin
Girls must understand not only their moral obligation but their power to be allies to each other at parties and other potentially unsafe spaces for girls.
PowerMoralUnderstandObligation
Isn't prom just a fun dance that hardworking students deserve? Sure, but it's also an event where girls internalize damaging cultural messages.
DanceFunDeserveStudentsSure
Prom culture is now painstakingly documented on sites such as Instagram and Facebook, exacerbating the angst of the uninvited.
CultureNowFacebookInstagramProm
When I went to prom in the early 1990s, I seesawed between my wish to get asked by the right guy and ride in the cool kids' limousine with the burgeoning realization that I was gay. I had a fun night, but I was far from my authentic, assertive self that night. Prom felt mostly like a job I had to do to maintain my position in the social hierarchy.
RideJobFunCoolNightSelf
To defer to someone else's definition of a life well-lived is a Faustian bargain.
LifeSomeoneBargainDefinitionElse
In the so-called age of girl power, we have failed to cut loose our most regressive standards of female success - like pleasing others and looking sexy - and to replace them with something more progressive - like valuing intelligence and hard work.
WorkHard WorkSuccessGirlAge
The Internet has transformed the landscape of children's social lives, moving cliques from lunchrooms and lockers to live chats and online bulletin boards and intensifying their reach and power.
LivePowerChildrenMovingInternet
When I did the original research for 'Odd Girl Out,' I asked every bullied girl I interviewed to tell me what she needed most from her family. The answer truly surprised me. It wasn't having the best solutions, calling the school, or trying to act like everything was okay. It was empathy.
FamilyGirlBestSchoolEmpathyMe
Empathy isn't the same thing as expressing emotions. It's not about sharing your feelings - it can be really uncomfortable if a parent cries or loses strength at the moment her daughter needs it most. The message sent is that you need to be taken care of, not the other way around.
StrengthDaughterMomentEmpathyYou
I come from a family where happiness was seen as an 'extra,' a kind of frill to life - nice to have, but certainly not necessary and by no means paramount. Work was king. Suffering meant you were working hard. It made you worthy.
LifeWorkFamilyHappinessSuffering
Copyright © 2024 QuotesDict Rachel Simmons quotes