L Platers

The world is a very different place from two years ago. And the impact on our 16-, 17- and 18-year-old girls is huge.

At one of the most critical times in their development - an age when they're ready to spread their wings and look to the future - they have had to deal with enormous disruption and dislocation, and come to terms with living life from their bedrooms. The long stints of remote learning and the anxiety of at-home exams has compounded with the ever-present pressure of the ATAR and worries around friendships and relationships, who they want to be, gender identity, alcohol, vaping, and sex, body image and mental health. Self-harm and eating disorders have risen dramatically. For school-leavers, the uncertainty around university study and the jobs market only adds to the heavy toll.

To support our girls, we need to understand the pressures this generation is under by listening to what worries them and what they need - and journalist and social commentator Madonna King has done just that. Having consulted 1000 young women, along with parents, senior educators, and health care professionals in her research for this book, L Platers delivers the answers we need as parents to help our girls on the road to adulthood.

Madonna King is one of Australia's most accomplished journalists, having won awards for her ABC Radio Brisbane Mornings current affairs program. She writes across Nine, Crikey and The New Daily, and is the author of numerous books, including the bestselling Being 14 (ABIA shortlisted for non-fiction book of the year), Fathers and Daughters, Ten-ager and L Platers. She is also the biographer of Australian of the Year Professor Ian Frazer and former treasurer Joe Hockey. In 2018, Madonna served as chair of the Queensland Government's Anti-Cyberbullying Taskforce, set up in the wake of COAG. A fellow of the prestigious World Press Institute, she serves on a university-related board, and previously served as a visiting fellow at the Queensland University of Technology and on the Walkley Advisory Board. Her website provides further detail. She lives in Brisbane with her husband and two teenage daughters.

'In this insightful and practical exploration of female young adulthood, Madonna offers a remarkable way of understanding and sharing the realities of growing up for so many of our daughters.' - Dr Justin Coulson

A must-read guide for parents of teenage girls that explores what our girls need us to know in order to support them through the unprecedented pressures of growing up in today's world.

The world is a very different place from two years ago. And the impact on our 16-, 17- and 18-year-old girls is huge.

At one of the most critical times in their development - an age when they're ready to spread their wings and look to the future - they have had to deal with enormous disruption and dislocation, and come to terms with living life from their bedrooms. The long stints of remote learning and the anxiety of at-home exams has compounded with the ever-present pressure of the ATAR and worries around friendships and relationships, who they want to be, gender identity, alcohol, vaping, and sex, body image and mental health. Self-harm and eating disorders have risen dramatically. For school-leavers, the uncertainty around university study and the jobs market only adds to the heavy toll.

To support our girls, we need to understand the pressures this generation is under by listening to what worries them and what they need - and journalist and social commentator Madonna King has done just that. Having consulted 1000 young women, along with parents, senior educators, and health care professionals in her research for this book, L Platers delivers the answers we need as parents to help our girls on the road to adulthood.

'Madonna tells us the truth about what Australian tween and teen girls are feeling and thinking. Best of all, she equips parents with useful tips on what our girls need from us and wish we knew.' - Rebecca Sparrow, author of Ask Me Anything

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