The Development of Body Image in Young Girls and...

Have you ever heard, I wish I was taller! If only I had curly hair I would be pretty. I would be happy if I was skinner! Why can’t I look like her? These are all comments commonly made by young girls, whom are feeling pressure to have the ideal physical features. This pressure builds and builds as the girl is aging and being effected by her environment. This strain reaches a maximum point when the girl is crossing into womanhood. The external influences change throughout a life time but they constantly play a significant role. These influences can be their favorite toy, the way classmates treat them, a commercial during their show, models on the runway, and television shows. As infants girls are constantly learning traits and†¦show more content†¦Parents prefer to believe they are teaching their children to be happy with themselves; however this may not always be the case. Children can simply over here their parents criticize a TV personality for gaining weight or bei ng heavy set, and relate it to themselves. Daughters take notice to fathers and brothers being more attracted to the thinner women. Many parents want to live a healthy life for their children and sometimes start them on low fat or fat-free diets and food as a young age. This however can be detrimental to the child’s health, because they need fat in their diet throughout their childhood to fully develop neurologically. Parents should learn what healthy nutrition is for their childs age group, and teach their children to be critical of mass media images. Parents should also stay aware of their childrens developing body image, and not allow them to talk negatively about themselves and their body (Natenshon). Self-esteem can begin to be effected by mass media in girls as young as five years old. The media portrays â€Å"model thin celebrities so that they appear happy and this can lead girls to believe that they are positive role models (Heubeck). Many young girls have develope d another unrealistic role model, Barbie. More than one billion Barbies have been sold around the world. To put this into perspective, that averages two Barbies being sold every second. Barbie hasShow MoreRelatedThe Current Debate Of Puberty857 Words   |  4 Pagespuberty and also the fact that the average age of puberty is decreasing. It will also review the social effects the media has on body image. Granted the term adolescent development is used vaguely when describing it in girls, Attie and Brooks-Gunn (2000) define development as, fat increasing and changes in breast development. Puberty is normally used to describe girls in their teenage years who are characterized as moody, stubborn, or irrational. 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