Professor Kauer sent out and email with a link to an article titled “The children who hate their bodies: How half of six-year-old girls think they're fat and how parents can stop this dangerous obsession” by Tanith Carey. This article talked about young girls at the age of 6 want to be super thin. The first part talked about how the media portrays young girls. It emphasizes on young girls wearing small clothing sizes, never really advertising bigger sizes. This could definitely have a huge impact on young girls especially during the kindergarten aged girls. It goes on talking about how parents who are always counting calories can affect the child. A young girl growing up watching her mother constantly complaining about her weight and is always on some sort of diet can really impact her. Causing her to become cautious of her own weight thus, developing eating disorders. In class we talked about the female Triad, which included eating disorders, menstrual period disorders, and osteoporosis. All these disorders can develop if a young girl is not well raised.
Moving on to the second part of the article, in which it talked about ways to encourage young kids into having a healthier body image. It goes on about tips and ways to avoid the negative things that surround or will remind kids of weight issues. Also talked about encouraging your child to partake in sports, making them aware of the media, and basically teaching them what’s wrong and right when it comes to body images? This was an interesting article because it talked about the issues being faced by young children and also talked about ways to divert from societal norms to a healthier lifestyle.
Anallelica M.
kin. 338I
T TH-9:30-10:45
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I too read this article and was surprised to see the increasing number of younger kids thinking they are fat. It's really sad to think that a young girl is embarrassed or ashamed of her body at an age where its important for her to have a positive body image. When kids are young, their mind is like a sponge ready to grasp anything that they find intriguing. If all they are hearing about at home is how their mom needs to lose weight for a party or how many calories their ice cream cone is, they are surely on a road to developing even worse body image problems. The focus that retail puts on a girls body at such a young age is disgusting. Just the other day I walked into forever 21 and saw a huge area dedicated to only kids clothing. The funny part was that the clothes looked just like smaller replicas of something I was about to buy. There were shirts emphasizing the midriff and shirts way too short for a 6 or 7 year old to be sporting. Forever 21 is just 1 of many stores that have conformed to selling sexier clothes aimed at younger and younger girls. All this is doing for girls is giving them standards for what pretty girls should look like. Regardless of parenting, kids are going to pick up messages and notions just from watching tv and hanging out with friends. Therefore, the encouragement to engage in physical activities along with giving positive feedback is crucial while kids are growing up. It's really amazing how the power of words can have such an effect on someone developing ideas about themselves and others. When you have a positive foundation and environment, it makes the pressures of growing up that much easier.
Tu/Thurs 9:30-10:45
Christina Macias
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