Beauty Myths We Get from Hollywood

It's all too common. Staring down from giant billboards glossy images shout "You should look like this." This is what sexy is." On the movie screen we see the perfectly styled tresses and sculpted bodies of characters we can't help but notice, and we wonder why we don't look like so flawless. We want to be that thin, that tall, that tan, and that sexy.

This is the myth of perfect beauty, and though we see it most clearly from Hollywood sources, it's all around us in more subtle ways. In fact, we are responsible for nurturing this myth and keeping it alive. We do this when we starve ourselves to reach a certain weight that's unhealthy or unrealistic, when we judge the worth of other people based on what they are wearing, and when we spend millions of dollars on useless weight loss drugs. As a parent I find the beauty myth very disturbing. Eating disorders are a persistent issue for so many adolescents, and kids are at risk when they lack self esteem and a good foundation for processing the images they are bombarded with. The myth is a very dangerous threat to the physical, emotional, and mental well being of so many children.

When faced with slick images every day what can a parent do to help their child see through the myth? There are some simple things we can do to point the way toward something more realistic and healthy.

Problem: Putting to much emphasis on weight. The desire to be at a healthy weight makes sense. We all know that being very overweight or underweight is not good for our bodies. The problem comes when we place our focus entirely on our weight. Weight is only part of the overall picture of good health, and parents would do well to examine their comments and put more effort into communicating this to their kids. Do your children see you constantly in "diet mode" or yo-yo dieting from one plan to the next? Do you often call yourself fat or complain about the size of certain parts of your body? This tells children that smaller is always better, and it reinforces the myth that skinny equals beautiful.