Double the reading for Mom's Day: Reclaim your identity as a mom AND talk to your teen

Formula for identity loss:

1. Take one multifaceted, intriguing human being.

2. Bless her with a child.

3. Mix with today’s cultural assumptions.

4. Add the demands of motherhood.

5. Presto! All identity except Mom disappears.

For every woman wondering what happened to the unique combination of gifts and abilities she was known for before kids came along, Caryn Dahlstrand Rivedeneira has good news: in Mama’s Got a Fake I.D., Rivedeneira helps moms reclaim their full identity as creative beings, gifted professionals and volunteers, loving friends, children of God-and mothers.

This inspiring and practical guide shows women how to break free from false guilt, learn a new language to express who they really are, and follow God’s lead in sharing their true self with others. After all, motherhood doesn’t have to mean losing one’s identity. Instead, being a mom makes it possible for a woman to discover a more complete identity as the person God made her to be.

Author Bio:

Caryn Rivadeneira has been a trusted voice to evangelical women since her first role editing Marriage Partnership magazine. In her nearly 10 years in Christian publishing, Caryn has held such influential positions as managing editor of Marriage Partnership, managing editor of Christian Parenting Today, and the first-ever managing editor of Women’s and Family Resources, a department she helped develop at Christianity Today International (CTI).

Today, her love of engaging and equipping Christian women continues in her role as a contracted managing editor of CTI’s latest venture: GiftedForLeadership.com, an online community for Christian women in leadership. This site which publishes some of the most influential Christian women leaders attracts more than 20,000 unique visitors every month. In her role, Caryn develops relationships with influential women leaders, edits their contributions, writes a popular monthly post, and creates downloadable booklets for women in leadership.

Caryn maintains an actives schedule as a freelance editor and writer. Her clients have included WaterBrook Press, Livingstone Corp., the Willow Creek Association, Scribe, and Christianity Today International. Caryn has published dozens of articles related to women, motherhood, and families—both in magazines and in online newsletters. These appeared not only for Marriage Partnership and Christian Parenting Todaybut also for ChristianityTodayMovies.com and as the “Resourceful Mom” and “Ask a Resourceful Woman” columnist in the MOMSense and Today’s Christian Woman e-newsletters.

Caryn her B.A. in English from Calvin College and attended the University of Chicago’s publishing program. Since the birth of her first child five years ago, Caryn switched from professional magazine editor to mother, editor, and writer, all of which she does from home, where the hours are insane but the payoff huge. Caryn spends most of her days snuggling with, reading to, playing with, singing silly songs for, and making chocolate milk for three of the best kids ever created. She, her husband, and their kids live in the western suburbs of Chicago with their four rescued pets: a relinquished Rottweiler, an abandoned bunny, and two feeder goldfish.

Looking for a way to use Mama’s Got a Fake I.D. with a book club, Bible study group of friends, bunch of neighbors, or gathering of any old bodies? You have a couple great options:

• Download the FREE discussion guide: Mama’s Talking Points!. It’s packed with some good thought provokers and conversation starters. Seriously good stuff.

Mama’s Talking Points!

• Download the FREE Bible study “When You Feel Like Mama’s Got a Fake I.D.” from ChristianBibleStudies.com based on Mama’s Got a Fake I.D.! It’s excellent. Click here to check it out.

DEAR MOM

Every mom knows how communicating with a teenage girl can be difficult, even impossible at times. One-word answers. Defensive conversations. Daily arguments. How typical for teens to put up such barriers. All the while, moms truly long to know what their daughters really think.

Best-selling author Melody Carlson, whose books for women, teens, and children have sold more than three million copies, bridges this chasm with trusted insight. She speaks frankly in the voice of the teen daughters she’s written for and she tells it like it is: struggles with identity, guys, friendship, and even parents-it’s all here. The straight-talk to moms covers such things as “I need you, but you can’t make me admit it,” “I’m not as confident as I appear,” and “I have friends. I need a mother.”

Instead of focusing on outward behaviors, Dear Mom looks at a young woman’s heart and reveals to moms:

• how to talk to teens so they hear,
• how to connect despite the differences of perspective or years and experiences,
• and how strengthen the bond every mom and daughter ultimately wants.

The lively chapters in Dear Mom can be dipped into topically or used as a read-through tool by moms and daughters alike to understand what motivates or deflates, troubles or inspires-and just in time for Mother’s Day and all the Mother’s Days ahead.

Great tips and lists you’ll find in Dear Mom

* 14 ways to help my self-esteem * 10 ways to humiliate me * 10 tips for how to act around my friends * 10 traits I admire most about you * 21 things I’ll never say when I’m a mom * 11 ways to totally alienate me * 10 ways to make me tune out * 9 things you say that shut me down * 6 things you say that help me open up * 12 things you’ve done that make me proud * 10 ways you could ruin my life * 13 ways we’re alike * 6 rules I might actually get * 14 things I don’t get about guys * 9 healthy ways you can help me express myself * 12 common fears I’ll never admit * 12 ways to encourage my spiritual life

Author Bio:

Melody Carlson is the award-winning author of more than one hundred books for adults, children, and teens, with sales totaling more than three million copies. Beloved for her Diary of a Teenage Girl and Notes from a Spinning Planet series, she’s also the author of the women’s novels Finding Alice (in production now for a Lifetime-TV movie), Crystal Lies, On This Day, These Boots Weren’t Made for Walking, and A Mile in My Flip-Flops. A mother of two grown sons, Melody lives in central Oregon with her husband and chocolate lab retriever. She’s a full-time writer and an avid gardener, biker, skier, and hiker.