Q&A for parents of teenage girls - ANSWERS BACK

[RachelMumsnet]

Are you concerned about your teenage daughter's diet? Are you worried about her self-esteem? Does your teen have skin-care issues? Do you wince at her choice of clothes/heavy eyeliner? Alice Hart-Davis is on hand this week to answer questions from parents of teenage daughters.

Alice is an award-winning beauty journalist and writer. Her latest book, 100 Ways for Every Girl to Look and Feel Fantastic was co-written with her daughter, Beth Hindhaugh and offers friendly and detailed advice on everything from hair, skin, makeup, exercise along with easy to follow instructions and photos. Send your questions to Alice before end of day on Wednesday 12 September and we'll link to Alice's answers from this thread by the end of the month.

How do I convince DD that u am trying to support her in everything she does, not trying to ruin her life? (And no she can't leave school and go to FAME college)

My daughter has suffered with acne on her back and chest. After various treatments with creams and antibiotics over the past 18 months our GP put her on the pill. She's 2 months in and now has no acne. We are due to see GP soon, after 3 months, is it likely he will continue with the treatment and should I push for it as my daughter is so happy with the results?

Every girl dreamsof changing the way she looks? WTAF? If Ibought this for my 15 year old she would probably hit me over the head with it assuming I wouldn't feel anything because I'd clearly undergone a lobotomy. And quite correctly. Mumsnet what are you THINKING? Have I inadvertantly stumbled upon a parallel universe where the internet was up and running in 1955?

Yes, I'm a bit about MN promoting a book whose advertising blurb on Amazon contains "Every girl dreams of changing the way she looks."
The advert on MN says "Help your teenage girl to feel her best" and then flashes to "Beaty Wellbeing Confidence" -- with "Beauty" in larger letters. The message I took from that is that helping your daughter to feel her best means helping her to look her best, because beauty is the key to wellbeing and confidence.

Although that might be some modest pat of how a mum might help her daughter's confidence, I hope that NOT every girl dreams about changing the way she looks, and I'd much prefer to tell any daughter of mine that beauty is not key to wellbeing and confidence.

@OatyBeatie

Yes, I'm a bit about MN promoting a book whose advertising blurb on Amazon contains "Every girl dreams of changing the way she looks." The advert on MN says "Help your teenage girl to feel her best" and then flashes to "Beaty Wellbeing Confidence" -- with "Beauty" in larger letters. The message I took from that is that helping your daughter to feel her best means helping her to look her best, because beauty is the key to wellbeing and confidence.

Although that might be some modest pat of how a mum might help her daughter's confidence, I hope that NOT every girl dreams about changing the way she looks, and I'd much prefer to tell any daughter of mine that beauty is not key to wellbeing and confidence.

We did consider the implications of running this Q&A but thought on balance that this would be useful. The book is about teen 'beauty' but also tackles issues such as skin problems, hair /weight/self esteem problems and other issues that affect teens and their parents. The number of questions that have been posted suggest that it could be a useful Q&A but we do get your point and will certainly pass this message on to Alice to ask her thoughts on the possible negative implications in the copy on the back of the book.

This Q&A is now closed. Thanks for sending in your questions. We'll be sending 20 Qs over to Alice later today and will post a link to the archived Q&A before the end of September.

Alice's answers are now back and you can read the full Q&A here

Teenage Q&A with Alice Hart-Davis

Id leave it until shes older, perhaps a spray tan for occasions when she wants to go swimming etc. She hasnt stopped growing yet and her skin will change as she does. See about it in a couple of years, spray tans are very safe and reasonably cheap.