The other day, I was having one of my proud Mama moments, introducing my soon-to-be eight year-old too New Moon Girls.com and talking to her about why I valued the type of self-esteem building content on this type of site over the self-image crushing messages of many other popular girl-focused websites.
For the first five minutes, I had her rapt attention and eager interest! Then, too suddenly, she saw the part on the site about “Create Your Own Avatar.” The first thing she wanted to do: skip the hand-drawn Avatar selections available on New Moon Girls and click over to Barbie.com to download one of their images.
Seriously?!
Think in your mind of how Barbies are built…now multiply whatever you have in mind by less clothing, smaller waists, higher heels, and more makeup. Now, you know what the site has to offer in terms of the avatar choices it presents to young girl users.
The irony. My best laid plans jilted!
Of course…I know…there is a great learning moment here for my daughter…an impactful conversation to be had…but WOW did it strike me in the face what an uphill battle we Moms face in providing our daughters with quality media content and fortifying them from the ubiquitous messages of thinner, sexier, smaller online, in print, and on TV.
5 Dangers of Too Sexy, Too Soon Ads Aimed at Our Girls.
This is a great article written by child expert, Dr. Michele Borba, on the subject, including helpful advice for parents on how to buck the prolific negative images aimed at young girls.
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