Instructs parents on how to raise daughters of sound character who know that they are loved and can stand up for themselves and others.

A letter from steve -- Meet kaycee and genevieve -- The five stages of girlhood -- Creating a total girl -- Right from the start (birth to two years) -- Learning to explore (two to five years) -- Getting along with others (five to ten years) -- Finding her soul (ten to fourteen years) -- Preparing for adulthood (fourteen to eighteen years) -- Hazards and helps : the five big risk areas and how to navigate them -- Too sexy too soon -- Mean girls -- Bodies, weight, and food -- Alcohol and other drugs -- Girls and the online world -- Girls and their parents -- Girls and their moms -- Girls and their dads -- What happened to kaycee? -- Postscript -- Author's notes -- Acknowledgments -- Index.