title: Daughters and Mothers: Making it Work
author:  Julie Firman 
description: The Firmans, a mother-and-daughter team, were two of the coauthors of Chicken Soup for the Mother &amp; Daughter Soul. Taking a more hands-on approach, they offer this look at the often turbulent, emotionally charged relationship between moms and their daughters. Using examples from their own lives as well as case studies from their patients (they run workshops on mother-daughter relationships), the Firmans describe the most common reasons these relationships experience stress and the various strategies readers can use to lessen conflict. Some of the scenarios will be familiar: adult children still wanting to please their parents or expecting their mothers to bail them out of trouble; mothers who can't see their daughters as mature adults able to make their own decisions. The authors intersperse the anecdotes with exercises that include self-assessment tests and writing assignments to help readers identify their roles and how they can make changes. This book mostly deals with mother-daughter relationships between two adults, and the Firmans write, "If daughters manage to become `ex-children,' to think and feel like adults, separate and autonomous, they have taken a huge step. So, too, when mothers can become `mother graduates' and can experience themselves as adults beyond the mothering role, they have taken an important step in their lives." Readers looking for the soothing tone of a Chicken Soup volume will be disappointed, as this book, while upbeat, is squarely positioned as a standard self-help volume. <br />Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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  # Home Scenes, and Home Influence
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ### T.S. Arthur
  
  
  This page copyright © 2002 Munsey's.
  
  
  http://www.munseys.com
  
  PREFACE.
  
  
  TAKING COMFORT.
  
  
  CHILDREN—A FAMILY SCENE.
  
  
  LOSING ONE'S TEMPER.
  
  
  TROUBLE WITH SERVANTS
  
  
  HAVEN'T THE CHANGE.
  
  
  OLD MAIDS' CHILDREN.
  
  
  THE MOTHER AND BOY.
  
  
  THE CHRISTMAS PARTY.
  
  
  IS SHE A LADY?
  
  
  GOING INTO MOURNING.
  
  
  IF THAT WERE MY CHILD!
  
  
  A MOTHER'S INFLUENCE.
  
  
  THE POWER OF PATIENCE.
  
  
  AN OLD MAN'S RECOLLECTIONS.
  
  
  
  
  
  
      
  
  
  
  
  
  This etext was created by Charles Aldarondo (Aldarondo@yahoo.com)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ### PREFACE.
  
  
  
  
  
    
  MANY of the scenes presented in this volume are such as show the
  
  
  mother's influence with her children; a few include the marriage
  
  
  relation; and a few give other domestic pictures. In all will be
  
  
  found, we trust, motives for self-denial and right action in the
  
  
  various conditions of social life. Home is the centre of good as well
  
  
  as of bad influence. How much, the