Anon, it's frightening that you're being asked to speak to fifth graders, but I know the need is there. My 12-year-old niece, who has been busy growing quite tall and is therefore very lanky for her age -- not an inch of fat on her body right now -- has declared herself too big. She said someone at school told her she weighed too much. If you were to see her on the middle-school basketball court, you would call her skinny. You would say, "I'm sure she'll fill out one day."
It is insidious that our young girls are feeling this way and are making one another feel this way. And while the right messages and support from their families is incredibly important, there's just something undeniably magical for them about peer pressure at this age. I hope your book is picked up by a lot of families dealing with this issue and that they'll get help, either from it or because of it.
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Anon, it's frightening that you're being asked to speak to fifth graders, but I know the need is there. My 12-year-old niece, who has been busy growing quite tall and is therefore very lanky for her age -- not an inch of fat on her body right now -- has declared herself too big. She said someone at school told her she weighed too much. If you were to see her on the middle-school basketball court, you would call her skinny. You would say, "I'm sure she'll fill out one day."
It is insidious that our young girls are feeling this way and are making one another feel this way. And while the right messages and support from their families is incredibly important, there's just something undeniably magical for them about peer pressure at this age. I hope your book is picked up by a lot of families dealing with this issue and that they'll get help, either from it or because of it.
February 26, 2009 - 9:11amThis Comment
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