by Maggie Hamilton     Childhood is not what it was. A decade ago we didn’t have babies actively being marketed to, causing a marked drop in imagination amongst pre-schoolers, alongside anxieties about how they look and what they wear.

Ten years ago the tweens, girls aged 6 to twelve, weren’t a multi-billion dollar market. The marketers have done a good job. These highly impressionable girls who lack a strong sense of self are market savvy. They now know their brands. An increasing number of them are choosing their friends according to the brands they wear. They are also experiencing many of the anxieties teenagers do. 

Our teen girls have new pressures also. Caught between the expectations of parents, and the celebrity culture where you have to be thin, beautiful and popular, doesn’t leave them with much room to move. Eager to ‘grow up’, the media gives girls a very narrow definition of what ‘grown up’ means. The ‘performance culture’ it promotes encourages increasing numbers of girls to behave in ways that are often harmful. Girls as young as twelve are now being admitted to emergency wards so drunk they can’t breathe, addicted to shopping, and terrified they won’t live up to the ever-changing expectations of their peers. For some the pressure is too much. Increasing numbers of girls are battling eating issues. One in ten teen girls self-harming. Too many girls are being subjected to bullying in areas where there is little regulation – on mobile phones and on the net.

In a few short years our girls have become vulnerable - not just teen girls - young girls and baby girls. They are facing challenges no other generation has faced. What a twelve-year-old girl experienced at seven, is not what a seven-year-old girl is now struggling with. This is why many of the signposts we offer girls no longer apply.

So, what is happening to girls? Why do they pay more attention to their peers than parents? What makes brand-name clothes and looking sexy so appealing? Why are they drawn to ‘out there’ behaviour, and why are depression, cutting, eating disorders and binge-drinking on the rise? How do so many girls lead secret lives? Why are increasing numbers accessing porn? Why do many teen girls want to marry young and have babies? What are their hopes for the future?

Over two years Maggie Hamilton interviewed dozens of girls, teachers, school counsellors, psychologists, law enforcement and medical personnel to get an insider's view on what girls are experiencing at present.
Informed, revealing, at times shocking, What’s Happening to Our Girls? is a book every parent should read.

To nurture our girls we need to parent these new generations differently. A strong home culture – shared meals, and a willingness to learn about their popular culture and discuss the pitfalls are some of the many ways parents can make a huge difference. The first step is to trust your instincts not the spin. They are your children.  

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About the author:

Writer, teacher and publisher Maggie Hamilton gives regular talks, lectures and workshops throughout Australia and New Zealand; writes for magazines; and is a keen observer of social trends. She has a Masters in English Literature, a passion for the art of living meaningfully, and is a regular media commentator.

Link: http://www.maggiehamilton.org/