"Is Your Kid Too Pretty To Do Homework?"

This is the title of an article that PrudentBaby shared on Facebook today. The original article can be found on Babble.com and was written by Jaime Morrison Curtis.

This is a t-shirt recently put out by JCPenney. I think it is absolutely RIDICULOUS! What kind of message is this sending to young girls and what kind of responsibility should a company have toward those girls? Media is already doing a fine job of telling girls that being "attractive" is paramount, but now they get to where that propaganda on their clothing too. This is such a great way to show girls that their only worth is wrapped up in what our society believes is "beautiful".

To illustrate what this kind of thing is doing to our girls, here are some statistics I dug up:

• In childhood (5-12 years), the ratio of girls to boys diagnosed with anorexia or bulimia is 5:1... http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/publicat/cpsp-pcsp03/page6-eng.php
• "A recent study published by British National Health Service (NHS) reported that some 100 kids from age 5 to 7 were hospitalized in the UK for severe anorexia over the past year." http://www.worldcrunch.com/anorexia-victims-are-getting-younger-and-younger/3557
• In individuals aged 10-14 years...societal influences intensify the fear of becoming "fat." http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/912187-overview#showall
• "In one startling statistic cited in the report, an analysis by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality found that hospitalizations for eating disorders jumped by 119 percent between 1999 and 2006 for kids younger than 12."                                                                               http://health.usnews.com/health-news/family-health/brain-and-behavior/articles/2010/11/29/rate-of-eating-disorders-in-kids-keeps-
• According to a March 26, 2007 article on the British news website MailOnline, more than 200 pre-teens in Britain and Ireland were diagnosed with eating disorders over a 13-month period that began in March 2005. The youngest child to be diagnosed during that period was a 6-year-old who had anorexia nervosa.                                                                                                                                http://www.eating-disorder.com/Eating-Treatment/Eating-Disorders/eating-disorders-young-children.htm

It's not just the statistics that are scary. I have had one-on-one experience with a young girl struggling with severe body image issues. She was 8 years old, incredibly thin (due to fast metabolism) but was convinced she was going to get fat so she stopped eating most everything. It was only through some very thorough education that we were able to help her understand how important it was to get proper nutrition. 

This issue is just so scary, especially as the parent of a little girl. Do you have a daughter? If so, what do you think about this issue?

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