Between Us: A Mother & Daughter workbook to strengthen communication, by Dominique Robinson
- Author site https://www.herempowermentcoach.com/
- Facebook community https://www.facebook.com/groups/BetweenUs2020
- IndieBound https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781734816204
- Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Between-Us-Daughter-strengthen-communication/dp/1734816201/
- Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54228945-between-us
My review: ★★★★★
This is a great book for its stated purpose: improving mother/daughter communication. If your relationship with your daughter or mother is rough – this book will help you “shake up” that relationship, understand where things are unhealthy, and re-form it stronger. But it’s going to be work. The conversations you’ll have together will require openness from both of you. You’ll both have to share thoughts and stories, and it might get uncomfortable. But by going through that together, your relationship will be stronger. You’ll understand each other better. You’ll learn how to listen and speak to each other better.
This book will require a commitment from both of you. The author even calls it “a WORK-book” instead of a workbook, to emphasize that. One good thing is that even the early exercises should help both of you feel like you’re getting something out of it – so you see the value of continuing. The exercises are broken into reasonable sized pieces so they’re not too long. It should be manageable to work this into both of your busy schedules, even if it takes doing it a piece at a time.
After some ice-breakers and practice sharing & trusting each other, you’ll discuss social & emotional learning, beauty hang-ups, menstruation, sex, and intergenerational trauma. If your relationship has been rough going, guaranteed you will learn some things about each other as well as about yourself and even your relationship with your own parents in the process. The book ends with a 30-day challenge where mom & daughter take turns answering 1 short question each day. I love that, because it only takes a few weeks to build a new habit. If you can complete that challenge, you’ll cement new habits of sharing with and trusting in each other.
The author, Coach Dominique, is a certified adolescent and relationship life coach. She has helped many people and she knows what she’s talking about. If a book is not your thing, she also offers coaching services on her site.
If you are having relationship issues with your daughter/mother, it’s worth giving these exercises a try. If you know a mother & daughter who are dealing with interpersonal friction, you should suggest this book to them.
