Odd to say the least

[jameson245]

OK, so reviewing some news stories and opinion pieces, it was reported Priscilla White didn't think the pageants were a good idea so she gave Patsy a copy of this book.

My question - no questions - would be...
Why was Priscilla reading a book on troublesome teenage daughters when her daughter was all of 6?
Why would she think this was an appropriate gift for Patsy?  I jmean, I know Patsy had older step-children but they were good kids, there were no problems there.

I just think it very odd.



SURVIVING OPHELIA: Mothers Share Their Wisdom in Navigating the Tumultuous Teenage Years
Cheryl Dellasega, Author . 

If there were any doubt that Mary Pipher's 1994 bestseller Reviving Ophelia spawned a virtual cottage industry about teenage girls at risk, the latest Ophelia-related title by psychologist Dellasega (a clinician at Penn State's College of Medicine) lays it to rest. The book follows close on the heels of Ophelia's Mom (Forecasts, June 25), Nina Shandler's response to her daughter Sara's 1999 bestseller, Ophelia Speaks. Both Dellasega and Shandler have chosen to use Sara Shandler's approach and collect various essays, but while Nina Shandler structured each chapter of her book around specific problems, such as drugs or school, Dellasega chooses a more sprawling, conversational approach. Her chapters discuss the types of responses that out-of-control daughters elicit in their mothers, from special mother-daughter moments to explosive anger and regret. Despite the uneven quality of the selections (they range from thoughtful to clichéd), they share a raw immediacy that may help other moms. In fact, Dellasega credits some of the pieces with giving her the courage to send her daughter, Ellen, to a "wilderness program" to overcome anorexia. Like the mother who penned the excerpt "Tears from a Rose," the contributors are women who have tried to do their best, even when that wasn't always enough. "What happens when you do everything as right as you can, and it all goes wrong?" she questions. Interwoven throughout are Dellasega's ongoing concerns about Ellen, now 17. While it's obvious that the author wrote the book to overcome her struggles with her own teenager, there are lessons here that will help every mother dealing with an adolescent daughter.

[jameson245]

Priscilla? Would love to be in contact. Email me at jameson245@aol.com. I have your phone number so can verify it is you with a simple phone call.

[CA4Now]

(09-10-2017, 04:58 PM)jameson245 Wrote: OK, so reviewing some news stories and opinion pieces, it was reported Priscilla White didn't think the pageants were a good idea so she gave Patsy a copy of this book.

My question - no questions - would be...
Why was Priscilla reading a book on troublesome teenage daughters when her daughter was all of 6?
Why would she think this was an appropriate gift for Patsy? 

I thought the book she gave Patsy was Reviving Ophelia, by Mary Pipher.  It was published in 1994.  (Surviving Ophelia was published after JBR's murder, and is a book more geared to teenage issues of girls.)

When this book came out, especially in paperback, it was VERY popular with mothers of daughters of any age.  (I have a daughter who was a few years older than JBR then, and I read it, as did many mothers I knew.)  Back then there was a lot of focus on the negative outcomes of too much emphasis on girls' appearance.  It seems apparent that Priscilla did not approve of the pageants, probably because she had little knowledge of them and had obviously never participated in them, and she may have thought that this book could express what she felt.