Raising girls – Caution: land mines ahead!
Raising girls is a scary scenario for many folks. Girls are moody and unpredictable and prone to self esteem issues and have to fight for careers and equal pay and face the huge dilemma of family vs. career and have to figure out how to juggle that, all while remaining supportive and happy and strong for their families. That’s a LOT of pressure to put on a girl, you know? Add to that the casual sexualization, the images in the media that focus on perfection (of an air brushed quality, of course!) and we find ourselves juggling what we see in print and on screen and what real girls look and feel like.
It’s a daunting task for a parent!
A while back Dove made a commercial filled with women of all shapes, sizes, and colors, naked (tastefully) and – most importantly – smiling. These women were (and are!) each beautiful, and comfortable in their own skin, despite a little extra curve there, a wrinkle here, a pouch over there. As a lover of women all shapes and sizes, the commercial made me smile every time I viewed it.
Since then, Dove has expanded their Campaign for Real Beauty into a feature rich site and resource to encourage healthy self-esteem for our girls! There is SO MUCH there in the ‘Just for Girls‘ section, including the True You booklet for mom’s and daughters, which goes through the mother/daughter relationship and how communication is the key.
You know what I ALWAYS say around here – TALK TO YOUR KIDS! This is no different, Dove Agrees. Here are some statistics that are important for us to know about our girls:
One-half of women around the world see family relationships as
having the greatest impact on their self-esteem.*
• Two-thirds of women believe that they are expected to be more
physically attractive than their mother’s generation.*
• Dissatisfaction with body image increases as girls progress to
adolescence. While 75% of girls 8-9 years old say they like the
way they look, only 56% of girls 12-13 years old feel that way.**
• One-third of all girls 14-17 years old think they are overweight,
and 60% are trying to lose weight.**
• Over 50% of girls 11-15 years old say that their mother helps
them the most when they have a problem.**** Dove’s Real Truth About Beauty Study
** Girl Scout Research Institute – Teens Before Their Time, 2000
***Girl Scout Research Institute – The Ten Emerging Truths: New Directions for Girls 11-17, 2002
There are a ton of resources there to be had – including quizzes for your girls to take on the health of their relationships with their friends and family, body facts and fiction, how their self-esteem affects other people, how to help their confidence grow, and many more. I encourage you to check it out, and then show it to your girls! Healthy self-esteem starts at home, and Dove has some great tools to help us get there.
1 Comment
thanks for being on the cutting edge of life for teens – where were you when I was raising you? (haha – jokester)
The Today Show did a bit on “huffing” today – I hope you will do a post on that subject as well . . . and “talk to your kids” seemed to be a highlight of the piece. Although, sadly, I did hear some self-blaming on the part of the parents (he’s a cop – she’s a nurse) because they didn’t see the signs of abuse before their 14 yo son died of inhalant abuse/overdose.
They talked to their son about every other drug – just not huffing because it was outside of their experience.
Also heard a commercial on the radio this morning about a UA test parents could do with their teens . . . not sure how far you’d want to go with that, but an interesting concept. (I know, invasive much????)