Real Life Versus Reel Life
Watch any movie or fashion show on TV, and you can see at a glance that these days incredibly thin actresses and emaciated models dominate the screen. Most of them really are thinner than what you would think is healthy for them, but let's hope they are under the guidance of their nutritionists. What you should worry about is the negative impact all that skinniness has on your daughter.
Fact
When Harvard professor Carol Gilligan did a study on the psychological development of adolescent girls, she found that they experience a big drop in self-esteem as they become teens. Only 29 percent of girls that age said they felt “happy the way I am.” In contrast, 60 percent felt that way at age nine.
According to a 1998 report by Exeter University in the United Kingdom, 90 percent of teenage girls think frequently about the shape of their bodies. When nearly 50,000 girls were asked what their biggest concern was, their answer was “appearance.” Make sure your daughter is able to separate what she sees via a movie reel from what is real. She is a real girl with many fascinating activities on her plate, many great concepts to learn, and a fabulous future ahead. While appearance does not have to be the last item on her list, it should definitely not be her first and only one.
