Helping Girls with Self-Esteem
December 10, 2008 by Peggy Rowland
Filed under Women's Health
If you’re a parent or mentor to a young girl, have you given some thought to the impact of low self-esteem?
Chances are you have. Young girls aren’t great at hiding their insecurities, but they also don’t always tell you what they’re thinking.
Key findings from Real Girls, Real Pressure: A National Report on the State of Self-Esteem are a bit disturbing. The report was commissioned by the Dove Self-Esteem Fund. Here’s what they found:
• Seven in ten girls believe they are not good enough or do not measure up in some way, including their looks, performance in school and relationships with friends and family members
• 62% of all girls feel insecure or not sure of themselves
• 57% of all girls have a mother who criticizes her own looks
• More than half (57%) of all girls say they don’t always tell their parents certain things about them because they don’t want them to think badly of them
• The top wish among all girls is for their parents to communicate better with them which includes more frequent and more open conversations as well as discussions about what is happening in their own lives
Read the full report on self-esteem. And visit Campaign for Real Beauty for helpful and free self-esteem building tools.
Image via the Dove Self-Esteem Fund.
It is sooo important – I was shocked when my 11 year old grandaughter recently made the comment she was fat! She is a string bean! And this grandmother had recently written a book “On Being a REAL Princess, Secrets of the Happy Heart Princess” which is all about self esteem, values and decision making. Had she not read my book – or are there just way too many competitive messages out there? In defense of my book, I must say that parents, teachers and therapists are finding it a very useful tool in addressing those very issues. If you are interested in my book, please go to http://www.happyheartprincess.com or http://www.happyheartprincess.blogspot.com