Today, someone in your house watched an educational television program called Nick News.

Your house watched the first 11 minutes of the program and learned about:
1) The issue is two personal stories of girls who are dealing with the problem of skewed body image. They both feel they are overweight. One, Angela, seems fairly well adjusted, but the other, Christie, has been hospitalized for anorexia and has lost half her body weight because she feels she is fat. Their stories illustrate the issues discussed in the program.
2) The issue is why we compare ourselves to others. What is body image? And where do we get these skewed body image ideas?
3) There are two issues here: One is that black and white girls have very different sources for ideas about body image. The other issue is the role of the media in influencing these views.

In the last 14 minutes, the viewer missed:
1) The issue deals with surgery or drugs that can change your body image.
2) The issue here is how does body image affect boys. Boys may be less focused on body image, but they still face problems, although they are different than those of girls.
3) All people are different. That's good. Love yourself.

Here are some questions you may want to ask your family when you talk about today's show:
1) Some questions you could ask are: How do you know what is "too skinny?" What is considered overweight? Is it necessarily a bad thing to want to lose 10 pounds, for example, and look better? What if that ends up helping the person feel better about him or herself? Is it wrong? What age is too young of an age to want to diet? Is there such an age?
2) What specifically is anorexia? Are there target weights for certain ages and heights that are considered normal? What purpose does fat serve in our body?
3) The issue is the treatment of people based on their looks. Also, how do people react to being judged on their looks?
4) Is is possible to avoid judging other people based on their appearance? Why is your own body image more important than other people's views?
5) Is it really possible to generalize about all girls who are white and all girls who are black? I mean, really! Are the fahion industry and the magazine industry really interested in helping girls in some way? Aren't they just interested in making money?
6) How many "teen" oriented magazines are there that target young girls?
7) The numbers of young people who are having plastic surgery is at an all-time high. Nose jobs, lip augmentation, etc. are very popular. What do you think of that? Is it worth it? Should people be free to decide what they want for themselves?
8) How many boys actually think about this? Isn't it natural to a certain extent to want to fit in? Aren't girls bombarded more with images from the media?
9) Saying "Love yourself" is all well and good, however, with all the images surrounding kids all the time, how is it possible to feel good about yourself if you are different? How do you know whether or not to get help?
10) Which of the kids is the best looking? Who is likely to have the worst self-esteem?
What is up with Linda's hair?


Hope you tune in tomorrow!

Intellectually yours,
The Parent Trap

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