Interview with author Dr Helen Wright: Decoding Your 21st Century Daughter
To celebrate the launch of Decoding your 21st Century Daughter, I had a chat with author Dr Helen Wright. On the phone, Helen is such a lovely character, someone I would love to have as an educator.
Interview:
Dr Helen Wright is a leading educator and expert commentator on education and parenting. She has won numerous awards as both an educator. She is currently the head of Ascham School, a prestigious girls school in Sydney, Australia. Later this year Dr Wright will be speaking at conferences in Cairns, Australia and Yale.
I was blessed with the opportunity to chat to Helen about her new book and connecting with parents.
Me: Congratulations on your new book. If you had to summarize what it's about in one sentence what would you say?
Helen: Guidance for parents on how to understand their teenage daughters and how to share the wisdom.
Me: Where did you get inspiration for this book?
Helen: I've been a head (aka principal) for over 10 years in a number of schools. I get many questions from parents about teenage daughters in particular. Many parents are going through this for the first time. Schools have seen so much of this development and built up a wealth of knowledge and so important to share that. I believe we need to create working partnerships and believe we have a collective responsibility to bring up our children. And we need to communicate the accumulated wisdom and knowledge. There has been a moved away from extended families, so I am trying to regenerate that. Sharing wisdom of parents like how an aunt would.
Me: A common theme I hear from educators is that it's those who don't need the help that often stop to listen and take in parenting advice. Do you have any tips to engage parents?
Helen: The more open we can all be, the better. As educators we are helping to educating and growing children as a partnership. Where opportunities aren't available at home; provide them at school. In the UK, breakfast clubs, after school clubs and other activities are available to engage in the community. It's about creating schools that are helping to regenerate community.
Me: Lastly, why should parents get their hands on your book?
Helen: It's not about that. I wrote it because I wanted to share what I had learned. I just wanted to communicate that with people and help parents.
My Psychological perspective:
Decoding Your 21st Century Daughter
was a quick and easy read. I believed Dr Wright bought out the key risks evident in adolescent girls. It's based on what seems to be old-fashioned common sense in a fast paced new world.
Cyberbullying is very real. I have had many clients present with a range of mild to severe mental health issues due to cyberbullying and relationship problems due to use of social media. Dr Wright gives very practical pieces of advice for parents including, setting rules and being informed. In fact, research shows that parental monitoring (knowing what your teen is doing and where they are) is one of the most effective protective strategies available to parents.
Dr Wright also talks about role changes for both the child and the parent. She provides practical tips for parents to handle this phase including changing the way parents talk to their children. There were a few suggestions that have limited research backing, and one in particular that I would have to point out. Research is still out on whether talking to children about substance use is actually protective or a risk factor. [I talked to Dr Wright about this in the interview, and she says she will blog about this soon on her blog: http://www.drhelenwright.com/blog/].
The second half of Decoding your 21st Century Daughter, is really strengths based. Despite the doom and gloom of the 21st century, Dr Wright was able to help parents focus on building self-esteem, confidence and direction in young ladies.
My Christian Perspective:
According to the bible, really early learning is really important (Proverbs 22:6). Prevention is always better than cure. I wish there was a greater focus in this book about prevention and community, but when I spoke to Dr Wright, her key aims also appear to be about prevention and community. This being said, most of the strategies and tips that Helen talks about can be applied to younger girls - fostering parent-child relationships, building their self-esteem, focusing on resilience, having established family rules based on love.
Not only is it becoming harder to parent teenagers, but from my perspective, christian parenting of teenagers is also becoming an increasing challenge. There are several things we can draw on as a community, we can build collective resilience and positivity from a young age. We can help to monitor online and offline behaviour as a community. And most importantly, we can pray together as a community for our growing girls.
Excellent
Decoding Your 21st Century Daughter ebook (A$5.99 value).
Interview:
Dr Helen Wright is a leading educator and expert commentator on education and parenting. She has won numerous awards as both an educator. She is currently the head of Ascham School, a prestigious girls school in Sydney, Australia. Later this year Dr Wright will be speaking at conferences in Cairns, Australia and Yale.
I was blessed with the opportunity to chat to Helen about her new book and connecting with parents.
Me: Congratulations on your new book. If you had to summarize what it's about in one sentence what would you say?
Helen: Guidance for parents on how to understand their teenage daughters and how to share the wisdom.
Helen: I've been a head (aka principal) for over 10 years in a number of schools. I get many questions from parents about teenage daughters in particular. Many parents are going through this for the first time. Schools have seen so much of this development and built up a wealth of knowledge and so important to share that. I believe we need to create working partnerships and believe we have a collective responsibility to bring up our children. And we need to communicate the accumulated wisdom and knowledge. There has been a moved away from extended families, so I am trying to regenerate that. Sharing wisdom of parents like how an aunt would.
Me: A common theme I hear from educators is that it's those who don't need the help that often stop to listen and take in parenting advice. Do you have any tips to engage parents?
Helen: The more open we can all be, the better. As educators we are helping to educating and growing children as a partnership. Where opportunities aren't available at home; provide them at school. In the UK, breakfast clubs, after school clubs and other activities are available to engage in the community. It's about creating schools that are helping to regenerate community.
Me: Lastly, why should parents get their hands on your book?
Helen: It's not about that. I wrote it because I wanted to share what I had learned. I just wanted to communicate that with people and help parents.
My Psychological perspective:
Decoding Your 21st Century Daughter
was a quick and easy read. I believed Dr Wright bought out the key risks evident in adolescent girls. It's based on what seems to be old-fashioned common sense in a fast paced new world.Cyberbullying is very real. I have had many clients present with a range of mild to severe mental health issues due to cyberbullying and relationship problems due to use of social media. Dr Wright gives very practical pieces of advice for parents including, setting rules and being informed. In fact, research shows that parental monitoring (knowing what your teen is doing and where they are) is one of the most effective protective strategies available to parents.
Dr Wright also talks about role changes for both the child and the parent. She provides practical tips for parents to handle this phase including changing the way parents talk to their children. There were a few suggestions that have limited research backing, and one in particular that I would have to point out. Research is still out on whether talking to children about substance use is actually protective or a risk factor. [I talked to Dr Wright about this in the interview, and she says she will blog about this soon on her blog: http://www.drhelenwright.com/blog/].
The second half of Decoding your 21st Century Daughter, is really strengths based. Despite the doom and gloom of the 21st century, Dr Wright was able to help parents focus on building self-esteem, confidence and direction in young ladies.
My Christian Perspective:
According to the bible, really early learning is really important (Proverbs 22:6). Prevention is always better than cure. I wish there was a greater focus in this book about prevention and community, but when I spoke to Dr Wright, her key aims also appear to be about prevention and community. This being said, most of the strategies and tips that Helen talks about can be applied to younger girls - fostering parent-child relationships, building their self-esteem, focusing on resilience, having established family rules based on love.
Not only is it becoming harder to parent teenagers, but from my perspective, christian parenting of teenagers is also becoming an increasing challenge. There are several things we can draw on as a community, we can build collective resilience and positivity from a young age. We can help to monitor online and offline behaviour as a community. And most importantly, we can pray together as a community for our growing girls.
Overall Rating:
Excellent
Dr Wright has done a great job in compiling a brief but comprehensive set of factors parents of adolescent girls would find valuable. She presents practical tips in a user-friendly way. It's based on what seems to be old-fashioned common sense in a fast paced new world.
There is not an emphasis on research that often weighs down most parenting tip books, but a focus on personal experience as an educator full of wisdom. It's a useful Saturday afternoon read for parents with adolescent girls. And I will be sharing this book with parents soon!
The publishers have also provided me with 5 copies of the brand new ebook to giveaway (see below)!
#2 GIVEAWAY
As part of the Launch for the brand new Decoding your 21st Century Daughter, we are giving you the chance to win one of FIVE ebooks. Winners will be advertised on this site.
ebook (A$5.99 value).
HOW TO ENTER.
Simple fill in the form to enter (If you don't like Rafflecopter, you can just comment below to enter). Be sure to enter your email address so I can contact you if you win!
I was provided a review copy of Decoding your 21st Century Daughter (2013) by the publisher but was in no way paid for writing this review.
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