Cherry Blossom's Key Ideas from Girlhood
by Maggie Dent

Pretend play allows children to learn about how the real world works (pg 230)

If choosing which screen to occupy your child, opt for the TV instead of a phone/iPad. Program content for children is of higher quality with 0 ads. Children also do other activities such as colouring and move about as they watch TV, compared to if they are glued to a portable screen.

Girls can mimic behaviours like relational aggression because at a young age they don’t see the virtual world ( where these behaviours might be displayed) as different from the real world.

Girls seem to be conditioned to seek individualisation only under certain circumstances

1. Be confident but not conceited
2. Be smart, but no-one likes a know-it-all
3. Ambition is good, but trying too hard is bad
4. Be assertive, but only if it doesn’t upset anyone else.

It takes courage to “stand up for what you do and don’t want to do, especially when you feel pressured……to trust the boundaries of what [you do] and [don’t] feel comfortable with. Brave enough not to bend because the world says [you] should.”

Your feelings can provide insight into your reaction before the conscious mind.

Humour is a healthy coping mechanism for girls and is a healthy way to regulate emotions.