A Mother/ Daughter How-To

For over a decade, I worked for a local diocese in various capacities hosting what we called "Mother/daughter"s.  These were essentially afternoon retreats for tween/pre-teen girls and their mothers.  Our goal was to open communication between mothers and daughters, while instilling the Truth (with a capital T) of God's design for womanhood.  We hosted various talks, always had a lovely tea party, and offered a huge selection of resources, among other things.  It was always a touching and exhilarating experience.  The mothers who participated were always thankful and the daughters inspired.  It was some of the best work I ever did in my life and my one salary was the deep sense of gratitude I felt at being privileged enough to be part of such an amazing project.

That program, unfortunately, ended.  After being a part of something so profound for so long, and helping scores of mothers and daughters bond as they faced the life changes as blessings not misery; I found myself with no outlet for my own daughter who is on the cusp of her tween years.  So, friends of mine and I have banded together to create our own mother/daughter experience for our girls on a smaller scale this June.

Every year, as part of Little Flowers, I hosted a Mother/Daughter tea with a different theme.  They were all little baby steps toward what I felt the girls needed to know as they blossomed into womanhood.  These tea parties, weren't just a time to dress up and eat fancy foods.  My main goal was to create in them a love of who God made them to be, and an abiding trust in who He wanted them to become. This upcoming Mother/daugher is really just the next step on the journey.

Over the years, I have read countless books, given talks, and researched teens and the world around them.  Touching the lives of these young girls and supporting the moms became a great passion of mine.  So in the coming weeks, I am going to offer a series of articles that gifts to you what it took me a decade to learn.  I am going to include outlines of tea parties for young girls and teens; the scripts of my talks, where to find resources, and lists of books that every girl and/or mom need to read.  At the end, you too will be able to establish your own Mother/daughter program and begin to spread light one girl at a time.

Please join me on this journey, and come back for each post.  There is so much I wish to share and so much that girls today need to know.  If you have not already done so, please subscribe to the blog to get posts delivered to your inbox.  Also, if you are on Facebook, please like the Veils and Vocations page.  Once we reach 100 likes, I have a wonderful surprise in store!  Lastly, if you haven't heard, Veils and Vocations is now on Pinterest.  In addition to links to every post, I have several boards--and more to come--that correspond to the posts I have written.  It is another resource for you as you strive to raise saints.