The early years of a little girl’s life will shape her future in powerful ways.

Maggie Dent, Australia’s queen of common-sense parenting, has investigated the development period from birth to age eight. Drawing on nearly 5,000 survey results, the latest research, and her own extensive experience as an educator, counsellor, facilitator, mum and grandmother, Maggie shows us how to help our girls build an emotional and psychological base for life.

Secure foundations, Maggie argues, will help insulate our girls against anxiety and other mental health challenges as they grow into their teens and feel more capable and resilient while keeping their own authentic voice as they enter womanhood.

Written with all the rigour, compassion and humour we have come to expect from one of Australia’s best-loved parenting voices, this is both a deeply practical guide to raising girls, as well as a celebration and intimate meditation on the state of being female, which women of all ages will relate to.