It's probably safe to say that most, if not all, women don't love their bodies every day. It's almost impossible, with the ridiculous images that we are bombarded with in our world.
This is a much more real issue when I think about raising a daughter (this is yet another aspect that makes boys seem so much simpler!)...and it's not just when she hits her teenage years.
This is a much more real issue when I think about raising a daughter (this is yet another aspect that makes boys seem so much simpler!)...and it's not just when she hits her teenage years.
Staying up late one night when Andy was gone on business, I happened to catch some of the Tyra show. While I am not necessarily endorsing her, Tyra did a great job of tackling the tough topic. Here is a recap from the website of some of the show I saw:
Barbie and Bratz dolls should be the only thing on her mind. Her imagination should be running wild with thoughts of ponies and unicorns, instead, her thoughts are filled with images of slim women, and her heart is filled with the desire to be just like them. She’s in elementary school, she’s under the age of 10, and she thinks she’s overweight. With 40 percent of all 9 and 10 year olds on a diet, Tyra took a first-hand look at this disturbing statistic when she sat down with a group of young girls to discuss their negative body image and shocking fear of getting fat.
How frightening... prepubescent girls with eating disorders. What next? (Never mind- I don't want to know!)
I'm just curious how some of you mothers of young girls instill a healthy body image and healthy eating and exercise habits in your daughters. Do you ban Barbie for her ridiculously unrealistic depiction of a woman's body? Do you avoid the word "diet"? Make family exercise a regular activity? Get them involved in healthy food preparation? Or just sit back and pray?
6 comments:
really hits home for me since I grew up with an eating disorder (I am probably a little psycho about making sure G feels secure with herself) I NEVER say words like fat, or anything that may elude to me not liking my body (I remember when she was just 12 months, I was pinching my stomach in the mirror and I looked over and she was doing the same - yikes, they soak up everything we do - put an end to that sort of stuff!!!). We talk abut eating foods that are healthy for us and make out bodies strong, we go outside to play and talk about how good that is for our body - and yes she is not even 2! Little Girls are facing a world that tells them simply that they are not good enough how they are (i.e. they need this product, or need to look this way, etc...). As far as certain toys, I don't personally like the Bratz collection, but psycologically speaking, children don't sexualize or internalize the fact that Barbie is skinny or that Bratz wear a certain type of clothes, we do as adults, and I think we need to let them know that certain things are not appropriate, but I don't think that playing with a Barbie is going to give your daughter a complex. Good topic Brooke!!! This is also why I love our church, whenever I start to panic I can calm myself in knowing I have other parents with the same values that I have raising children who my child will be playing with...
I don't have any daugters, but someday hope too:). I have heard the stories of 10 year olds, even younger looking into a mirror and complaining about what they see....how they start so young!!! The mother I was talking to is a minister's wife in our church in Atlanta and she said that whenever her girls start to talk about their quialities they don't like in the mirror...she reminds them over and over of how beautiful they really are and how GOD made them just as they are. He doesn't make mistakes and he certainly thinks that they (girls) are beautiful. And yeah, kirsten...its a good point...don't ever stand around looking in the mirror at your self and start making comments on how you dont' like yourself. The kids hear EVERYTHING. I dont' know but this might be good too, is for daddy to ALWAYS compliment on how beautiful she (the young daughter) is. Just my two cents:)
Interesting topic. The only person I know that struggles with this is my sister. She has had the worst of eating disorders and still suffers from them today. It is an on going battle and I hate it for her. She has always told me that it is a skinny world out there. So I don't know what to tell ya. It is a scary thing.
Copy and paste this link to GodTube into your address window. It shows a vivid example of how our perception of beauty has been distorted.
http://www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=5a2ccb30e7bbafc011b0
-Michael
Wow, that was really interesting Michael. Thanks for sharing that. I new those girls were always VERY made up but had no idea they could change the place of where your eyes went! Amazing
I have seen that film before- kudos to Dove and their campaign for real beauty! They also showed it at church camp, which I thought was so great. I just wish there was more marketing like this out there, so we are reminded more often that the magazine cover people don't get out of bed looking that way. And we need to remember that we don't have a team of primpers and a sophisticated retouching program...
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