Stand Up for Girls: The Good Childhood Report
I’m a mum to twin girls who are five years old. Their happiness and wellbeing is of the utmost importance to me, so when I recently read the findings of The Good Childhood Report which has been carried out by The Children’s Society I was both concerned and saddened.
More than a quarter of a million girls aged 10-15 across the country are not happy with their lives overall; one in seven of all girls in that age group. Whilst boys’ wellbeing is staying the same, girls is getting worse.
Does this statistic surprise me?
If I’m being totally honest, no. Why? Because the amount of pressure that is put upon girls nowadays is ridiculous. Whether that’s Instagram girls portraying the perfect life with their face full of perfectly placed makeup and not a hair out of place, or girls magazines with slogans on the front cover such as ‘Wake up pretty!’ and ‘Your Dream Hair’ in comparison to the slogans on the boys version of this magazine which are ‘Explore your future. Astronaut? Artist? Firefighter? Chef? Here’s how to be what you want to be.’
It doesn’t help that celebrities endorse this lifestyle of being super skinny, working out every day and drinking nothing but shakes and spinach mushed up. Where are the celebrities who endorse an active lifestyle combined with a healthy diet?
The picture is even starker when it comes to personal appearance with a third of 10-15 year old girls not being happy with their looks. When I was 10 I didn’t even think about the way I looked. I’d pick something out of my wardrobe to wear, give my hair a quick brush and that was it. Nowadays 10 year olds look more like 30 year olds, with their polished appearances, high heels and designer handbags.
Separate research by the Office for National Statistics suggests that girls are much more likely to spend extended periods on social media, which has been linked to a higher risk of mental ill-health. This is the key statistic for me. I’ll openly admit that I spend a lot of time on social media, but I always make sure that this is when I’m away from my girls. I don’t want them to see me spending hours on my phone. It’s time we led by example, put our phones away and concentrate on quality family time.
Social media was around when I was a kid, but it wasn’t as big or as easily accessible as it is nowadays. Are technology companies and internet giants to blame or are the parents to blame for giving their children access to the internet? If I wanted to go online when I was younger, I’d have sit in the dining room on our desktop PC. I didn’t know what the internet was to be honest. I just used the PC to play games on such as solitaire.
Today’s world has changed a lot since I was a kid. Here are some quotes from some teenage girls that took part in the research.
“There are so many things that are difficult about a young person. There are so many pressures from your friends, from your family. You don’t know who are you going to be, you are trying to find who you are in a certain way.”
“We’re expected to be perfect, like Barbie dolls or something and if we don’t then we get bullied.’
“Girls feel pressured by the boys that they should look a particular way and that leads girls into depression or low self-esteem and makes girls feel ugly or worthless.”
“There is a lot of pressure to look good, you get called names no matter what, people always say stuff behind your back, boys always call you ugly if you have spots, or a slag if you wear makeup.”
If my girls came out with anything like this, I’d be heartbroken. I think it’s awful that girls are measuring their self-worth based upon their looks. We need to raise our girls to take care of themselves, but not to get hung up on looks, and what I think is just as important is that we need to raise our boys that it doesn’t matter if a girl doesn’t wear make-up she’s still beautiful because she’s unique. Children of both genders need to be taught the basics. To find out what really matters in life, and that’s not looks or wearing the latest designer clothes. It’s what inside that counts. It’s our actions, the way we treat one another etc.
The Children’s Society is calling on the government to take action to improve children’s happiness across the nation and make sure children and young people can access mental health and well-being support in schools and colleges. I think would help children greatly. Having this support system available and being able to talk to someone who can help is essential to help our young children grow up happy and healthy.
