Day 1,440, Quasi-Quarantine: "Untangled" Seeks To Shed Light On How Best To Approach Being A Girl Dad

"The urge to hold you at a distance is largely an unconscious one. This means that her feelings about you change for reasons she can't explain. What she knows is that you used to be pleasant company but you have suddenly become inexplicably annoying."

Full of helpful real-world examples, "Untangled" is an essential read for anyone embarking on the journey of raising a well-adjusted, empowered daughter. Lisa Damour includes a litany of resources and professional insights designed to give parents and loved ones the best chance for success at having difficult, revealing -- and ultimately, successful -- conversations with the the young women destined to change our world.

"Your daughter works hard every day to harness powerful and unpredictable emotions so that she can get on with doing everything else she means to do."

Subtitled "Guiding Teenage Girls through the Seven Transitions into Adulthood," the book was full of useful, thought-provoking tools: pool metaphors, definitions of porcupine depression and other concepts, and the idea that legal isn't the same as safe.

"Under these conditions, consider my favorite fallback line: 'Is there anything I can do that won't make things worse?' Set to a compassionate tune, there's beauty in this phrasing."

It was also validating to read that girls can be as surprised at their own emotions as parents are and that they spend an inordinate amount of time questioning their own sanity (this doesn't change in adulthood).

"Emotional pain can be a good thing, but we have to account for the fact that teenagers often have the right feelings on the wrong scale. They sometimes become swamped by their emotions, and no one can learn and grow when she feels as if she's drowning."

As a "girl dad," I am grateful for resources like this one as I seek to help navigate the emotional minefield of raising a complicated -- and amazing -- daughter.

"Raising a young woman will be one of the most vexing, delightful, exhausting, and fulfilling things you will ever do. Sometimes all on the same day. The job is hard enough even under the best conditions, and anyone doing a hard job deserves support. When we get that support, when we understand the developmental tour de force that is adolescence, we can truly enjoy and empower our girls."