14 DAY TRIAL // There is perhaps not a single woman out there who has never played with her mother’s lipstick, makeup and shoes as a child. However, what is happening with today’s children, and especially with the girls, goes far beyond that, as they have become so imbued with everything they see on TV, hear in music, or read in glossy magazines that they no longer have a proper childhood. The girls under 14 of today know how to party (but not how to play with dolls), how to dress, and spend their time dreaming of buying new shoes and accessories, and having plastic surgery as soon as possible, a piece in the Daily Mail says.
The British publication got to speak with a couple, parents of a 10-year-old girl, Georgie. Georgie looks up to glamour model Jordan (now known as Katie Price) for inspiration, and has already started saving up her pocket money to have her chest enlarged when she comes of age, a thing that doesn’t seem to bother her parents that much, since they see nothing wrong with it. Georgie has more shoes and accessories than her own mother, attends parties in pink limousines and can often be seen looking at herself in the mirror to see whether she has gained a pound of weight. Sadly, the Mail says, she is not the only one to act so unlike her real age.
The so-called “child women” phenomenon is slowly taking over whatever is left of young girls’ childhood, with more and more 8 to 13 year-olds spending most of their spare time trying to emulate the type of behaviors they see in adults, say, in the glamorized, retouched pages of a magazine, and to which they’re exposed on a daily basis. It’s no wonder then that few children of that age still play outside or have child-like preoccupations, the Mail says.
Bob Reitemeier, chief executive of the Children’s Society, says that girls are pressured into growing up faster – and things will only get worse for the generations to come. “There’s no doubt that we are putting so much pressure on our children today to grow up too quickly. What really worries me are the increasing levels of anxiety among children, especially young girls, who feel they are not thin enough, not beautiful enough, and compare themselves to the impossible images of their airbrushed idols in magazines.” Reitemeier says, following a thorough two-year research on childhood.
TellUs3 also conducted a survey on more than 150,000 kids to see how patterns have changed in recent years, and the shocking conclusion was that over 26 percent of girls aged 10 constantly obsess about their weight. Some even turn vegetarian at this age and abolish bread from their diet because it “makes them fat,” the findings have revealed. More worryingly, 16 percent of girls in the UK reach puberty at the age of just 8, the lowest threshold ever recorded, while the number of anorexia cases has increased shockingly in 10 year-olds in the past couple of years.
“Children are being inundated with images which they are simply not emotionally mature enough to cope with. If you’re constantly measuring yourself up against an impossible image and being made to desire emotions for which you are simply not ready, then I am very concerned about the level of anxiety and depression these young people may face. It is a ticking time bomb for the future.” Reitemeier says for the same publication.