First published 2021
Sociologist Janice Johnson Dias argues that parents can deliberately raise daughters who become agents of change. The mother of teen activist Marley Dias, who founded #1000BlackGirlBooks, Dias believes self-realized girls emerge through intentional parenting choices made from infancy through the teenage years. She contends that parents must first cultivate their own joy before they can inspire it in their children. This requires releasing past burdens to create emotional space for happiness. Dias transforms personal challenges into teaching moments and failures into learning opportunities through her own parenting journey. She provides research-backed strategies including daily compliments, weekly learning exchanges where daughters teach parents, creating affirmations together, and helping girls identify role models. The book combines cutting-edge research with practical advice drawn from her experience raising an activist daughter. Dias offers parents concrete tools to develop resilient, optimistic girls who will shape their own futures while lifting up other girls behind them.
Genres: african-american, self-help, biography-memoir, parenting, social-justice, activism
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, personal-journey
256 pages · Hardcover · Ballantine Books