Body Image

Although body image can be a positive thing and can affect boys as well as girls, negative body image issues are more typically found in teenage girls and women. I doubt anyone can argue that media does not play a huge role in the way society views the need for young women to be very thin, with large breasts, and flawless faces. When recently on a trip with my teenage daughter we were searching for a magazine for her to read and the only magazines targeting the teenage girl market was Teen Magazine, Seventeen, or CosmoGirl all of which had nothing but ways to be thinner, prettier, or how to attract a guy. My daughter is one of the lucky few that is naturally tall, slender, and does not suffer from acne. But she began to talk about how terrible it makes her feel when she hears many of her girlfriends talk about how depressed they get, how many diets they try, how much they spend on acne meds, and many even want breast implants.

My daughter also indicated that she knows several girls at her small high school who suffer from eating disorders like bulimia and anorexia. And some who have started smoking cigarettes, buying diet pills, or even experimented with cocaine or methamphetamines just so they can be thin. Teenagers may start using drugs for any number of reasons but it is very common for young teenage girls to start experimenting with these types of drugs simply because they think they need to be supermodel skinny.

I learned a lot during our conversation. I initially thought of the situation as a great teaching opportunity to teach my daughter about body image, self esteem, media image, and eating disorders. But I now feel it was more of a learning opportunity for me. My daughter and I discussed some options of how we can help and support one another and others with some of these issues and feel good about helping others acheive a more positive body image and self esteem and get help for some of their other issues. Parents and teens - this is an important subject to talk about. I think both of you will be amazed at the knowledge, understanding, guidance, and support you will receive if you open up and talk about these issues.

Inhalants

Statistics show that by the time a child reaches 8th grade 1 out of 5 will have tried some kind of inhalant. Inhalants are popular with younger people because they are easily purchased at any local store.
There are 4 main types of inhalants:
1. Volatile Solvents: Paint thinners, correction fluid, markers, gasoline and dry-cleaning fluids
2. Gases: Butane lighters, refrigerants, whipped cream dispensers and propane tanks
3. Aerosols: Spray paint, hairspray, vegetable oil cook sprays, air fresheners and fabric protection sprays
4. Nitrates: Isobutyl nitrite, isoamyl nitrite and cyclohexyl nitrite, aka "poppers" (harder to get)

One of the most commonly used is "canned air" or the air you purchase to clean things such as your computer keyboard. Stores closely monitor and ID people who buy this product.

Short term effects of "huffing" inhalants include dizziness, nausea/vomiting, delusions, hallucinations, loss of inhibitions, impaired judgment - leading to accidents/injury.
Long term effects of huffing include damage to the major organs, including the brain, heart, lungs, kidneys and liver.

Drug rehab facilities for this type of substance abuse are available but more difficult to find. If you suspect or are aware of your teen using inhalants determine if they need substance abuse treatment for this and/or any other drugs. But, at very minimum get them into teen counseling or therapy.

Teen Sexting

Since my last post about online safety I have noticed there have been a number of news articles about "sexting". And silly me, I was not aware they had come up with a tag name for sending sexuality explicit photos by text. I was not completely ignorant to the fact that it happens or that it has become more and more popular but I also had not considered what kind of consequences can come from it. Well, I mean there are obvious consequences like the pictures being able to be forwarded, shown to others, or even sent to the internet. Those things alone would keep many people from doing it but statistics show that more and more people (teens especially) are sending partially nude, completely nude, and some sexually explicit photos via text on their cell phones. Not exactly what most parents had in mind when they bought their teenager a cell phone so they could keep better track of them or so their teenager could use it in case they found themselves in some kind of trouble. Most parents set rules for many other things with their teens like driving rules, dating rules, and curfew rules. They even often rules about the number of minutes their teen can use their cell phone for or how many texts they can use so why not address sexting and other cell phone issues as well?

Talking to teenagers about teen sexuality issues can be very difficult or sensitive but if parents are not talking to their kids about these issues then their teens are going to get this information from other (probably not so reliable) sources.

Just recently there was an article posted about 6 teenagers in Pennsylvania who have been arrested on child pornography charges due to sexting. There were 3 girls that decided to send pictures to their boyfriends. They were charged with manufacturing, disseminating or possessing child pornography. And 3 boys from that school were charged with possession of child pornography. While other students in other states have been suspended, expelled, lost scholarships, and even had to change schools after their photos had been sexted. Many teenagers have become wise to this and started sending just body shots instead.

Whether teenagers are doing this for fun or because of peer pressure it is important that parents talk to their teens and educate them on the consequences of such behaviors prior to getting a phone call or knock on the door from their child's school or the local police.

I found this trend to be interesting yet frightful and hope by blogging about it more teens, parents, or family members will be more aware and cautious.

Online Teen Safety

There was recently an article in the Washington Post about the ongoing controversial issue of teen online safety, more specifically MySpace and FaceBook. This article states that when 500 students were randomly researched based on their MySpace profiles over 54% of them participated in discussions or posted photos that included sex, violence, and/or substance abuse.

Statistics from the Virtual Global Taskforce show that 1 out of every 5 chat room users have been approached by a child sex abuser. That number alone should get every parent involved in their childs internet activities.

Parents can do a few things to help insure the online safety of their children while using the internet. First, there are several software programs available that will allow you to put filters, limit access, or view what your child is doing. Second, if you become aware your child has an internet account (such as MySpace) that has personal information viewable to the public send them an email telling them what you found. This will usually convince them to make their profiles private. Some parents may not like this option as it also make it private to them as well but at least your childs information is not out there for the whole world to see. Third, sit down with your child and do a Google search under his/her name, you may both be shocked to see what kind of information is available.

In the 90's we were concerned about a digital divide between income levels and their ability to access the quickly growing computer age. There is also clearly a digital division between youth and their parents that is continuing to grow. Every parent should do their best to continue to be educated in computers, be aware of what is available to their children, and know what their child knows about online activities.