"Things I Want My Daughter to Know"

by Alexandra Stoddard


This book was given to me by my Aunty Ellen (my mum's sister). Here's what she wrote on the inside cover:

"Take what you like... and leave the rest."
"To Janelle - to be handed on to Amy Ellen, From Aunty Ellen"
"When Amy was born, I was going to sit down and write her a letter telling her about some of the things I have learned in the past 64 years and wished I'd known sooner. About the same time, I found this book - which lo and behold had many of the things I was going to write about. So, here is the book instead of the letter. Given with much love Oct. 2, 2009"

She changed the title page to read "Things I Want My Nieces to Know"! Before even opening the book, I loved it because of where and who it came from. I finally finished reading it and as Aunty Ellen suggested, I'll take what I like... and leave the rest. There were some great points in there - especially the ones Aunty Ellen had underlined and there were some other words of wisdom I also liked. There were, however, a lot of worldly views in there that I definitely did not agree with, but I can ignore them, and even use them to teach Amy "things I DON'T want my daughter to know"!

So, thank you Aunty Ellen for this wonderful gift that I will always treasure and gladly pass down to Amy.