Just us Girls

I remember the moment that the Dr. told me I was having a daughter. My hubs couldn’t come to the Dr. Appt with me because he had to work so the Dr. put the sex of the baby in an envelope. I was secretly hoping for another boy because I was scared to have a girl. Scared because I don’t know what to do with a girl. You see I’m a tomboy and I am lost when it comes to girly-girl things. I also knew that I had a smart mouth growing up and I didn’t want that karma coming after me. I didn’t wait until I got home but called the hubs at work to see if I could open the envelope. He said go ahead my gosh you can’t even wait (I have 0 patience for anything). I opened it up and it said, girl. The hubs was on the line like yay we done, we got one of each and we don’t have to have anymore. I, on the other hand, was like OMG we are going to have problems because I can’t raise her as a boy. Fast forward to 10 years later I now have a girly girl who is worse than I was as a child. That’s why I’m so glad Brandi came out with this Journal called Just us Girls. It’s a way for her and I to connect because sometimes I do treat her like one of the boys and I admit that I am not here for the shopping, makeup, and dresses all the time. With this journal, I feel that we can connect and get to know each other.

My daughter and I started doing planners last year. While she has fallen off I actually still use my planner all the time. I love the stickers and I use it as a journal and a planner at the same time. I write down one goal for the day that I must tackle and I also write down some notes of what transpired that day. With Just us girls my daughter and I can have a separate way to connect and I thought what better time to do so than while we paint our nails. Well while she paints my nails. Again I’m a tomboy and she says that my nails are raggedy so she has to help me.

The first part of the book asks a question “What’s something about you that you think I don’t know”. My response is that I think that my daughter feels she isn’t pretty because she doesn’t have long hair and sometimes feel she is ugly. She always asks for a perm and says she is tired of her hair. Why can’t she be like me? You see I have a perm because of that very reason. I was teased as a child for having not so straight hair and I was tired of not being able to swing my hair and I felt that my hair was the only thing on me that was beautiful. Sadly she feels the same and I wonder if me having a perm has made her want to have one also.

When it was her turn to respond about me. She wrote down something similar. She said mom you think you are ugly and although you tell me I’m pretty you don’t tell yourself that at all. That’s something about you that you think I don’t know. WOW! I wasn’t ready for that at all. She is right though and I think this journal will have us telling some truths about ourselves that I need to get ready for.

Spending time with our daughters is very important. They are us whether we like it or not. The apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree so even if they don’t have all of us in them they have a piece of us in them. I encourage you to journal with your daughters, spend time with them one on one, have date nights with them, allow them to be able to come to you without judgment, allow them to have space. I am not my daughter’s friend but I would like to think of myself as her mentor or counselor. Someone who will tell her the truth even when no one else will.

Do you journal with your girls? How about your sons? Do you journal at all? Make sure you pick up this journal it’s going to be an eye-opener.

Make sure you pick up your copy here!

I received a copy of the book for a review. All opinions are my own!