Her Mother’s Thighs: Helping our daughters to love their bodies even when we don

Her Mothers Thighs: Helping our daughters to love their bodies even when we dont love our own

Dara Chadwick has an unusual story to tell. After gaining 15 kilograms following the birth of her children, she won a competition to write a weight-loss diary column for one year for Shape, a womens fitness magazine with more than 1.5 million readers. She also wrote a twice-weekly blog and corresponded with other mothers. She discovered there is a question that plagues mothers everywhere: If I hate my body, how can I teach my daughter to like hers?

In this heartfelt and down-to-earth book, Dara Chadwick offers a pathway towards a solution. Using real stories from other mothers, as well as her experiences with her own thirteen-year-old daughter, Dara Chadwick helps women become aware of the negative body-image messages they are unconsciously passing on to their daughters. She shows how to talk about healthy eating and exercise habits, recognise the trigger words that can set off a body-image crisis, and be aware of the early signs that may lead to an eating disorder.

Dara writes: I have learnt that how I treat my body today - what I choose to feed it, how I choose to make it work, how I dress it and perhaps most important, how I talk about it - has a profound effect on how my daughter will treat her own body tomorrow.

With humour and compassion, Her Mothers Thighs offers parents ways for helping their daughters see that success and happiness are not linked to the shape of their bodies.

Essential reading for every mother of a daughter. Its not just about what we say to our girls but what they see and hear us doing that forms the basis of their body image. - Mia Freedman, author and columnist

Obsessing about our bodies is a waste of time and a bad habit. The message in this book is about how NOT to pass on this legacy. - Angela Catterns, broadcaster

Its one thing to want to raise daughters with a healthy body image and another to know how to do it ... Dara Chadwick successfully shows us that if we understand the effect that our mothers poor body image had on us, we can break the cycle and teach our daughters to love their bodies. Jo Lamble, Clinical Psychologist, mother and coauthor of Motherhood

About the Author
Dara Chadwick, a journalist and a former magazine editor, lives in Rhode Island, USA.

Finch Publishing
Dara Chadwick
ISBN 9781921462061
RRP $24.95

Her Mother's Thighs: Helping our daughters to love their bodies even when we don't Interview

What made you want to write this book?

Dara Chadwick: In 2007, I wrote a Weight-Loss Diary column for Shape, an American fitness magazine for women. During that year, my then 11-year-old daughter watched me work with a life coach, a trainer and a dietitian to lose 26 pounds. I knew that the way I felt about my body was shaping the way she felt about hers and I wrote a column about it, also reflecting on how my mother's body image had shaped mine. When I started talking to other women about it, I realised just how great a role mothers play in shaping the way girls feel about their bodies and I really wanted to explore the topic.

What is your favourite feature about your body and what makes you feel good about your body?

Dara Chadwick: I love my dark eyes, which are just like my mother's. My favorite body part, though, is my shoulders. They're strong and well-defined and I like the way they curve. Overall, I really like the way my body responds to regular exercise, so I always feel good after a walk or a workout.


How important is it that mothers follow your tips for building their daughters body image?

Dara Chadwick: The bottom line is that we can't make our girls feel good about themselves. That has to come from within them. But we can model what it looks like to feel good about your body and who you are by taking care of our own bodies with healthy choices and by speaking kindly about our bodies. A mum's example is a powerful one; after all, you're not just shaping how she feels about her adolescent body, but how she'll feel about her adult body, too.


What is one tip you can provide us with that a mother can use to make her daughter feel good about herself?

Dara Chadwick: Mums can help and encourage their daughters to feel good about themselves by showing them - through our own behaviour - that it isn't necessary to be perfect to be happy. We show them that whenever we cast aside our body insecurities and do the things we want to do, like swim at the beach, give a speech at work or get up and dance with friends - even if our bodies aren't "perfect."