Boys Will Put You on a Pedestal (So They Can Look Up Your Skirt): A Dad's Advice for Daughters

by Philip Van Munching

Book Overview

Life can be pretty tricky when you're a teenage girl.
New things matter: Clothes. Parties. Boys. Suddenly being liked and being popular don't mean the same thing. Your parents get completely bizarre when the subject of dating comes up. A friend you've had forever stabs you in the back for no good reason. Everybody you know seems to feel free to comment on your constantly changing body. Drugs and alcohol go from being what you see...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0743267788
• ISBN13: 9780743267786
• Release Date: May 2005
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 4.9" x 6.9"

Customer Reviews

A great read for women of all ages

At first glance I assumed this book would be geared toward much younger girls but I figured that I would give it a shot, and this 22 year old, fresh out of college and just starting life in the real world found this book lighthearted at times, and even enlightening. It allowed to me to reflect on my highschool experiences and understand how and why some things happened. I have recomended this book to all my friends and every woman that I work with. The title is a slight put-off for the older women, but when I tell them what it is about they are almost always intrigued. I think this book would be most beneficial for a young teeneage girl, but I also believe that it is a good book for every other woman because it isn't often that you hear the "other half's" perspective. This gets a 5 out of 5 from me!

For a brand new Dad, it's a godsend.

As a brand new dad of twins (one boy, one girl), I was delighted to see this book. Growing up in an all male household (three brothers) has left me totally unprepared for raising my daughter. Although she's too young for the advice in this book, at least I'll be better prepared for when she's ready to hear the tidbits this book doles out about sex, relationships, self-image, and experience. Some of the advice is gender specific, but a lot of the advice is universal, such as advice on mistakes - "Mistakes are yours and yours alone. It's what you do with them that makes the difference." This book is a hilarious and wonderfully presented resource book that really gets to the heart of the matter, which is communication. This book enhances your ability to have a dialogue with your children, which is especially important, because if you want your advice to stick, it shouldn't come in the form of a lecture. I would recommend this book to any new parent, but particularly for dads of daughters (the newer, the better). After all, knowledge is power, and preparation for those awkward conversations later on can be the key.

A Dream of a Book

I'm a new dad of a baby girl, so even though it'll be years before my daughter's ready for it, this book caught my eye. I'm glad it did. Van Munching has written a wise, funny, eminently readable and engaging tribute to his daughters, to parenting, to the minefields of adolescence. Here's a favorite bit that seems to define the spirit of this generous book: "I've learned a little something about mistakes: they are the true measure of you....they are what define and teach you....and are maybe the only things in your life that are truly your own. Everyone will jump in to grab a little glory when you do something right; mistakes are yours and yours alone. The trick is how you make use of them." What an important, right-on observation, and how I wish I'd had someone tell ME that when I was an awkward 15 year old boy. Though "Boys will Put you on a Pedestal" is specifically written for teenage girls, its applications transcend gender. A great book.

I Laughed, I Cried...(really!)

It has been a long time since a book has made me laugh out loud, but never has a book brought me to tears. I felt like I was taken on an incredible journey with the author, hearing about his life experiences and lessons learned - and remembering my own and how they have affected my life. It is a book that everyone can relate to, regardless of where they grew up, how they were raised, or where their interests lie. Certain experiences, such as being taunted, going to high school parties and peer pressure, losing a loved one, your first "love", etc., ring true for all of us. Although I am neither a teenage girl or a parent yet, I feel as if it spoke to the fifteen-year old that was me as well as the future parent that I hope to someday be. I just wish that my parents, who always have been wonderful, loving and supportive, had been able to communicate that way with me when I was growing up...because I really needed it at the time!

Where oh where was this book when I was 14?!!

This is the sweet, inspiring, moving, funny book I wish I could have read when I was a young teenage girl. Van Munching writes with warmth and sensitivity about all the Big subjects -- sex, popularity, grief, self-control, faith -- without preaching or talking down, and with a winsome, unaffected style that is beyond refreshing. Weaving stories from his own growing-up with commonsense, grounded advice, he takes the reader on a wonderful journey all the way to the last chapter, called "How to be Happy" -- which, by the way, I was when I finished this superb book. My daughter is barely five, but this book will be waiting for her when she's ready. "Boys will Put You on Pedestal" is for daughters, for their parents, and for anyone who cares about the emotional, physical, and psychological well-being of young girls. Run and buy it.