Dear gorgeous seven-year-old girls,
This morning, I read that you are worried about how you look.
I’ve learnt that this worry is deeper than the type of hair braid you’d like for Sarah’s party, or the pair of Converse shoes you keep asking your mum for because you really really want them to wear on sports day. (Even though she says they’re bad for your feet).
Around a fifth of you say you want to lose weight. My stomach churned as I read the research from Girlguiding, a British charity that surveyed 1,600 girls and young women between the ages seven to 21.
I know the social trends in Britain can be applied to here too. That means all those little girls I see at shopping centres and walking to school. All those girls I thought were thinking about how to get a donut out of their parents were thinking something completely different.
Something that is the complete opposite of feeling seven years old and carefree.
A quarter of you feel pressure to be “perfect”.
You are seven years old and you’re not happy with how you look in the mirror. So soon?
As you get older, these numbers will become bigger. Between 11 and 16 years, 42 per cent of you will feel ashamed of how you look. Ashamed? Half of you will feel as if your “looks” are holding you back.
When you reach 17, more than half of you – 66 per cent – won’t think you’re pretty enough. As you have your first drink. Or you dress up for parties. Or you think about the job you want after uni, that voice in your head will be questioning how you will get there, looking like you do. It will be chiding the width of your hips, frowning at the way your freckles stand out on your skin, unhappy with how big, or small, your breasts are. Something will be wrong. Make that, so many things will be wrong with you.
Top Comments
I do really hate to say it, but my issues with my body I feel have come from my mother. The same for my sister. My mother spent much of her teenage years battling bulimia and drinking to feel better about herself. When she had us in her 20s as a single mum all we could see was her judging herself in the mirror, holding on to her 'wobbly bits' and asking us if she was huge. My sister has suffered from anorexia in 2 separate stages of her life, and while I was still big, I found myself trying to go longer and longer without food before I would pass out. I think my record was a day and a half.
I have a son of my own now and I find myself examining my wobbles in the mirror and asking my sister if I look huge. I try not to and I hate the fact that I feel so much of my worth is intertwined with how much I weigh. I don't want my son thinking or feeling that about himself or any other people. The fact of the matter is that my little boy is nearly 5 and I've been dieting and hating myself since I was 8 years old. It's sick.
Little girls become aware per television that there are products sold that fix up ugly spots, unshapely lips, short eyelashes and on and on it goes. Advertising by promotion of an enhancement is, by implication, acknowledging that faults and weakness's are both common and unacceptable. Make-up, weight-loss, clothing, hair styles - every facet of our lives can be made better, Why? Because if you didn't need it = it wouldn't be made. Yeah. Think this point of view is too deep for such young girls. Not so. When a five year old only wants the BRAND shampoo that will give her long shiny, curly hair. Or a three year old boy cries because he has found 'pots' (spots) on his face, and it is not until an acne cleanser is advertised that you realise why he is upset and sounding a bit frightened. As parents we need children not to associate make up with hiding faults, Hygiene is not about the soap or wash brand, but about actions, like showering, washing hands etc Diets do not mean skinny people are better, That body shape is about fitness. When a child points at a really obese person and uses the words fat, correct them. That person is not fit and choosing to eat foods that stop them from being fit. I'm not talking athletic fitness, but about encouraging children to be playground fit, hopscotch, skipping, hopping, running, walking, tricycle fit. Look at adverts, if you have to, to find a spin on them that will make your children see that it comes back to choosing that fit and healthy is beautiful. The aim in life is to accept that beauty in not about body shape, type or size. Beauty is about being able to use all of the body you have (even when some like a leg or arm is taken) to do all the things you want. Beauty is not about looking like a model, but being a role model in how to enjoy life by being fit and healthy and ready for any challenge a child can give you.