From the Publisher
Rachel Simmons is the expert on helping girls become leaders. In a world that too often tells our girls to be quiet, not assertive; deferential, not opinionated; meek, not bold; and insecure, not confident, Rachel says otherwise – and she has the advice and research to back it up. This book is a must read for girls who want to lead – and for the parents, teachers, and coaches who want to help them get there.” — Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook and founder of LeanIn.Org and OptionB.Org
“This is the book parents have been waiting for. With levels of stress, anxiety and depression soaring among children and teens, raising girls has never been more challenging. With Enough As She Is national girl expert Rachel Simmons gives families the tools they need to redefine success for their daughters so they can truly thrive.” — Arianna Huffington
“Is it wrong that I wanted to underline every single word in this book? Simmons brilliantly crystallizes contemporary girls’ dilemma: the way old expectations and new imperatives collide; how a narrow, virtually unattainable vision of ‘success’ comes at the expense of self-worth and well-being. Enough As She Is a must-read, not only for its diagnosis of the issues but for its insightful, useful strategies on how to address them.” — Peggy Orenstein, author of Girls & Sex
“This book is a rare find for any parent or mentor of a girl child. It exposes the abject harm of today’s perfect-at-any-price childhood, and illustrates how a girl’s anxious, busy, self-deprecating performance strategy is entirely normal yet further harm-inducing. Packed with conversational specifics you can deploy with the teen girls in your life, this book is your chance to be who she needs you to be. Buy it. Read it. Live it. Help the girl you love realize the most important of all certainties: that she truly is enough as she is.” — Julie Lythcott-Haims, author of the New York Times bestseller How to Raise an Adult, and Real American: A Memoir
“Enough As She Is may save millions of women from the idea that ‘having it all’ means ‘doing it all.’ Women as well as men have the right to make choices that suit us uniquely, yet girls and women are more subject to external standards that we had nothing to do with creating. Rachel Simmons has given us the next step in our peaceful revolution: not only changing women to fit the world, but changing the world to fit women.” — Gloria Steinem
“This book is an essential resource for educators committed to building girls’ resilience as learners.” — Carol Dweck, author of Mindset: The New Psychology of Success and Professor of Psychology, Stanford University
“A brilliant and passionate call to action that reveals how girls and young women are suffering in our toxic culture of constant comparison and competition. This is the book parents need to change girls’ lives and guide them to truly become happy, healthy, and powerful adults.” — Rosalind Wiseman, author of Queen Bees and Wannabees
“Enough as She Is is a true gift for parents, teachers, or anyone else in a position to shape and educate the women who will run the world very soon. My copy is filled with sticky notes, exclamation points, and underlined sentences, and I know for a fact that the advice contained in this book will help me be a more aware, supportive, and effective teacher to my female students.” — Jessica Lahey, New York Times bestselling author of The Gift of Failure
“Enough As She Is shows parents, educators and girls what it means to try to achieve at almost any cost — amplified by social media. That includes pressure to be admitted to just-the-right college — and in some cases just-the-right high school — coupled with unrealistic body-shape expectations.” — USA Today
“Simmons tackles the “college application industrial complex,” perfectionism, defensive pessimism, and other factors that undermine teenage girls’ confidence and happiness... [Enough as She Is] persuasively demonstrates that girls can replace the toxic cultural imperative for “more” with their own vision of a fulfilled life.” — Publishers Weekly
“A fascinating read that provides ideas for combatting the “not enough” ideals that are devastating young girls.” — Library Journal
“Rachel Simmons’ clear, insightful and practical new book, Enough As She Is, provides a lens through which to understand the phenomenon of self-criticism, perfectionism and body shaming that is feeding this crisis.” — bookclique
USA Today
Enough As She Is shows parents, educators and girls what it means to try to achieve at almost any cost — amplified by social media. That includes pressure to be admitted to just-the-right college — and in some cases just-the-right high school — coupled with unrealistic body-shape expectations.
Sheryl Sandberg
Rachel Simmons is the expert on helping girls become leaders. In a world that too often tells our girls to be quiet, not assertive; deferential, not opinionated; meek, not bold; and insecure, not confident, Rachel says otherwise – and she has the advice and research to back it up. This book is a must read for girls who want to lead – and for the parents, teachers, and coaches who want to help them get there.
Rosalind Wiseman
A brilliant and passionate call to action that reveals how girls and young women are suffering in our toxic culture of constant comparison and competition. This is the book parents need to change girls’ lives and guide them to truly become happy, healthy, and powerful adults.
Jessica Lahey
Enough as She Is is a true gift for parents, teachers, or anyone else in a position to shape and educate the women who will run the world very soon. My copy is filled with sticky notes, exclamation points, and underlined sentences, and I know for a fact that the advice contained in this book will help me be a more aware, supportive, and effective teacher to my female students.
Carol Dweck
This book is an essential resource for educators committed to building girls’ resilience as learners.
Gloria Steinem
Enough As She Is may save millions of women from the idea that ‘having it all’ means ‘doing it all.’ Women as well as men have the right to make choices that suit us uniquely, yet girls and women are more subject to external standards that we had nothing to do with creating. Rachel Simmons has given us the next step in our peaceful revolution: not only changing women to fit the world, but changing the world to fit women.
Julie Lythcott-Haims
This book is a rare find for any parent or mentor of a girl child. It exposes the abject harm of today’s perfect-at-any-price childhood, and illustrates how a girl’s anxious, busy, self-deprecating performance strategy is entirely normal yet further harm-inducing. Packed with conversational specifics you can deploy with the teen girls in your life, this book is your chance to be who she needs you to be. Buy it. Read it. Live it. Help the girl you love realize the most important of all certainties: that she truly is enough as she is.
Peggy Orenstein
Is it wrong that I wanted to underline every single word in this book? Simmons brilliantly crystallizes contemporary girls’ dilemma: the way old expectations and new imperatives collide; how a narrow, virtually unattainable vision of ‘success’ comes at the expense of self-worth and well-being. Enough As She Is a must-read, not only for its diagnosis of the issues but for its insightful, useful strategies on how to address them.
Arianna Huffington
This is the book parents have been waiting for. With levels of stress, anxiety and depression soaring among children and teens, raising girls has never been more challenging. With Enough As She Is national girl expert Rachel Simmons gives families the tools they need to redefine success for their daughters so they can truly thrive.
USA Today
Enough As She Is shows parents, educators and girls what it means to try to achieve at almost any cost — amplified by social media. That includes pressure to be admitted to just-the-right college — and in some cases just-the-right high school — coupled with unrealistic body-shape expectations.
bookclique
Rachel Simmons’ clear, insightful and practical new book, Enough As She Is, provides a lens through which to understand the phenomenon of self-criticism, perfectionism and body shaming that is feeding this crisis.
Booklist Advance Review
Many readers became familiar with Simmons through her first book, Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls (2002), which remains popular and on the shelves at many libraries. Enough As She Is will be just as important. A must-add for public libraries, school libraries, and many college collections.
BookTrib
An expert on how young women are socialized, Simmons’ breaks down a major problem that modern girls are facing: they’re soaring academically, while suffering from high levels of anxiety, depression, and the feeling that they’ll never be good enough. While young boys are encouraged to take risks, girls are pushed to achieve but aren’t taught true confidence. Based on years of research, Simmons’ lays out the larger problems, while offering plenty of concrete advice for parents on how to handle the envy that social media creates, how to help girls stop over-thinking, and so much more.
Claire Shipman and Katty Kay
Nobody captures the highs, lows and sheer capacity of a teen girl’s mind like Rachel Simmons. Enough As She Is makes a powerful case that perfectionism is not only pervasive among adolescent girls but also extremely damaging. It’s not enough for girls to achieve, to be at the top of their game—they, and our culture, and sometimes parents, always seem to demand more. Luckily for all of us, Rachel, as always, offers incredibly valuable remedies. She offers a path for our daughters to move through life with confidence, and to work towards joy, satisfaction, and happiness, instead of an unattainable goal. Parents of girls need this book!
Ariana Huffington
This is the book parents have been waiting for. With levels of stress, anxiety and depression soaring among children and teens, raising girls has never been more challenging. With Enough As She Is national girl expert Rachel Simmons gives families the tools they need to redefine success for their daughters so they can truly thrive.
Kirkus Reviews
2017-11-21
Practical advice on raising well-adjusted girls.Today's girls, Simmons (Leadership Development Specialist/Smith Coll.; The Curse of the Good Girl: Raising Authentic Girls with Courage and Confidence, 2009, etc.) writes, are "glass ceiling-busting, selfie-taking world changers." However, as she notes, these same girls have higher levels of anxiety and self-criticism than any of their predecessors thanks to the numerous roles girls must play. They have the chance to be as successful and ambitious as their male peers, yet must also be "physically fit, pretty and sexy, socially active, athletic, and kind and liked by everyone." Depression and angst in young women are on the rise, a tide Simmons hopes to stop with her levelheaded and useful tips for parents. The author analyzes the way society and social media have created more tension for girls as they try to be everything for everyone, and she offers methods for diffusing tough situations. Simmons also addresses body imagery and body fat, the need to look as if you have a perfect life on social media, the objectification of women, handling disappointments and failures, and the drive to be highly athletic and involved in multiple extracurricular activities. Like most experts, she stresses the importance of unplugging, looking inward to find answers, using self-compassion, and setting realistic and obtainable goals in order to make changes. Though her solutions aren't groundbreaking, the author's accessible tone makes this a helpful tool for parents who need advice and want to help their girls become well-rounded women. The culture won't change until we properly discuss the many issues that create anxiety, depression, and pressure in girls; Simmons begins the conversation for parents, and it's up to them to continue it.Concrete, straightforward advice on helping girls move beyond the anxiety, depression, and angst that plague so many as they strive toward adulthood.
