Mojo Mom Podcast with The Curse of the Good Girl

This week I had the pleasure of welcoming Rachel Simmons to The Mojo Mom Podcast. You've probably heard about Rachel's work with girls and her previous book, Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls, and now she has a brand-new book, The Curse of the Good Girl: Raising Authentic Girls with Courage and Confidence. I highly recommend her work, especially if you have a daughter; but even if you don't, Rachel's insights shed interesting light on adult female interactions. And if you have sons, it can be helpful to understand what is going on behind the scenes in girl culture, too.

Listen to the podcast now:



Amy and Patty talk about upcoming developments in Amy's work as Mojo Mom, which will be more fully announced in October.

Then Mojo Mom interviews Rachel Simmons, a respected author, educator and coach who helps girls develop their authentic selves. Rachel's new book is "The Curse of the Good Girl," which fascinated Amy as a guide to helping young women develop, and a reminder that grown-up women may still have some relationship skills to learn, especially when it comes to dealing with conflict.

Two weeks to be Amy rather than Mojo Mom

I am writing today to declare that I am taking a two-week break from blogging, to regroup as Amy as well as Mojo Mom.

I am carving out some time to focus on my family (yay!) and I need to unplug from the internet and get back in touch with the here and now. Blogging takes time to write, of course, and also involves extensive immersion in online news, which to be honest is starting to melt my brain. I feel like I've become porous and vulnerable to being really upset about the news stories such as Jaycee Dugard and Annie Le. This is genuinely important news but I feel myself becoming too porous, taking in too much, and taking it personally.

As a writer there is a fine line between thinking and brooding, and it's clear to me that I need some time to shake off my brooding mood, have some fun in the here and now, and be ready to redirect and get ready to launch a new Mojo Mom project in two weeks.

You can expect me to be back full-strength on the blog on Wednesday, October 5th, and you'll be hearing a little bit from me before then, as I will have a new podcast with author and educator Rachel Simmons this Friday. We'll discuss her new book The Curse of the Good Girl: Raising Authentic Girls with Courage and Confidence, which I highly recommend to you as a parenting and personal resource. As I was reading her book, I found that the skills Rachel talks about for girls apply to us, too.

It feels like a relief to unplug for a bit. I encourage you to think about creating an opportunity for you to reclaim your mind space and recharge your batteries, too.

Recommended videos: The Curse of the Good Girl, and Saying Goodbye to College Kids

There were two video segments on The Today Show this week that I wanted to recommend to you:

First is Rachel Simmons, author of the new book The Curse of the Good Girl and the older book Odd Girl Out, talking with Dr. Roni Cohen-Sandler, author of Stressed-Out Girls, about what it takes to raise authentic daughters. The conversation got very "Mojo Mom"-esque at the end if I do say so myself, as they talked about how we as Moms can show girls what it means to have authentic selves.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

The second segment features Dr. Michele Borba, talking with Meredith Vieira about saying goodbye to college-bound kids. A real tear-jerker, and full of good advice. Dr. Borba's new book is The Big Book of Parenting Solutions, and she's going to be my guest on The Mojo Mom Podcast next week! I think she's so smart and right on target with her approach to parenting.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy