She was a fun and cool girlfriend to have growing up.

[diamondcutter]

As far as mothers go, I got lucky. “Is that really your mom?”--said in the most incredulous of tone--was a constant refrain when I was growing up. Now that I’m an adult, I see what the fuss was about. My mother is cool--way cooler than average. Not only that, she is so gorgeous and youthful that she could pass for my very hip older sister.
Being a single mother of two couldn’t have been easy, but she made it work. She was a fun and cool girlfriend to have growing up, but was also authoritative enough that even now as adults, she still makes us quake in our boots.

Source: https://pulptastic.com/10-things-my-cool-mom-taught-me/

She was a fun and cool girlfriend to have growing up, but was also authoritative enough that even now as adults, she still makes us quake in our boots.

I wonder whether “growing up” should be “when we were growing up” because “growing up” in the setence certainly refers to the subject of the sentence--the mother’s growth up.

 

[emsr2d2]

It's fine as it is. Native speakers reading it will understand it to mean "when/while we were growing up".

It's worth noting that this use of "girlfriend" (a friend who is female) doesn't work in BrE. Here, a "girlfriend" is used for a female romantic partner.

 

[Tarheel]

It's a sex thing here. That is, if man talks about his girlfriend we take it one way, but if a woman talks about her girlfriend we understand it differently.

 

[diamondcutter]

Thanks, Emsr2d2 and Tarheel.

I thought the participle phrase "growing up" was a mistake named "dangling". Now I understand it's an exception.

 

[tedmc]

There is nothing dangling. "When/while" before "growing up" is understood. It could have been clearer if "growing up" is put between commas.

 

[diamondcutter]

She was a fun and cool girlfriend to have growing up.

In this sentence, "she" refers to the author's mother, so grammatically "she" is the logic subject of "growing up", which doesn’t make sense.

Another example:
My father was a fun and cool friend growing up.

It can be understood that the real subject of "growing up" is the sentence speaker, but grammatically, "my father" is the subject of "growing up". That doesn't make sense. That's why I think "growing up" is a dangling structure in this sentence, too.

Another example:
Seeing from the hill, the city looks beautiful.
Also, the sentence is understandable but in fact, "seeing from the hill" is a dangling structure because a city can’t see.

What do you say?

 

[tedmc]

I think it would be clearer as follows:

She was a fun and cool girlfriend to have (when I was) growing up..
She was a fun and cool girlfriend to have, growing up (referring to the writer, that is), ... ...

Seeing Seen/Viewed from the hill, the city looks beautiful.

Your sentence would be correct with the above amendment.