It is not new or even shocking news that our young girls today are inundated with messages from media and society that can have a negative and lasting effect on their development and future. It sounds serious, and unfortunately it is. Consider this alarming information Dr. Jennifer L. Harstein PsyD shares in the introduction to her new book Princess Recovery: A How-to Guide to Raising Strong, Empowered Girls Who Can Create Their Own Happily Ever After :
“One recent study from the National Institute on Media and the Family showed that at age thirteen, 53 percent of American girls are “unhappy with their bodies.”
“According to Medical News Today, a December 2010 study showed that the number of eating disorders in children under the age of twelve has risen 119 percent over the past few years, and children as young as four are being treated in hospitals and outpatient treatment centers for these issues.”
Dr. Jen offers parents a way to regain control over the things that influence their children and raise strong daughters who can:
* pursue their passions with industry and intelligence;
* establish high but realistic expectations of themselves and their future;
* provide context for problematic influences - from the media to prissy peers; and
* build a mutual trust that will withstand adolescent growing pains.
Princess Recovery encourages parents to work with their daughters on building important skills, such as: questioning the media, dressing appropriately, finding her voice, and learning that conformity is not required.
The world will most likely not make it an easy battle with its padded bikini tops for children, but our daughters are smart and we can arm them to rise above the ditzy-diva trap.
Available on Amazon.com and Independent Booksellers
More Resources
Dr. Jen on “Combating Princess Syndrome”
“Do We Need a Princess Recover System?” by Soraya Chemaly at Huffington Post
Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture” by Peggy Orenstein
