Worried that your teenager might be growing up a little too fast?<!—->.

Friday, March 17, 2000

Worried that your teenager might be growing up a little too fast?

Well, according to one of those primetime news magazine shows, some parents don’t seem to think their daughters are becoming adults quickly enough.

Dateline NBC featured a segment this week about teenagers who have decided at the ripe old age of 17 that their bodies needed a little work.

Well, actually, in some cases, a lot of work.

One of the young women featured on the show was 18 and pursuing breast implants. She said she felt bad about the way she looked in comparison to her younger sisters who were much more buxom. Her father not only agreed to the surgery; he offered to pay for it – to the tune of several thousand dollars.

The other young woman was a 17-year-old high school cheerleader who decided that she needed liposuction after her efforts at weight loss through traditional methods were unsuccessful. She said she was tired of being "bigger than all her friends."

There are several issues to consider here. The first is maturity.

Few teenagers have the experience or the perspective to understand that they are still too young for such a serious step.

Surgery is a risk, no matter what you are having done. A teenager who doesn’t worry about the future yet – and feels a little immortal as most teens do – might not understand the many things that can go wrong when you allow yourself to go under the knife.

The other issue is peer pressure and what the fact that so many teens are considering plastic surgery says about what society is teaching them.

There is no question that the emphasis on thinness and sex appeal are corrupting our young women today.

There is nothing wrong with wanting to be healthy and trying to look your best. Teens should be encouraged to pursue physical fitness and healthy diets.

The problem comes when they take that attitude too far and they put their health in danger.

Eating disorders among teenagers are on the rise across the nation – and, yes, in Lawrence County, too. That means there are more and more 12- to 18-year-olds who are so worried about what they look like that they are willing to vomit or to refuse to eat until they have forever altered their health.

Where do they get these feelings of inadequacy? Just flip on your TV. Every teen star of the screen or music video these days gives new meaning to the word "petite."

And, while you are at it, take a look at some of the clothes in the teen department at your local department store. You will see a whole lot of teeny, tiny sizes that look even smaller than they did when you and I were shopping for the latest, hip clothes.

Teens’ increased interest in plastic surgery is a consequence of the increasing importance of looks in today’s society – and that is a reason for every parent to be concerned.

Teach your child to be proud of who she is now and to accept the things about herself that make her unique. Don’t allow her to think her self-worth is tied to her dress size. Eventually, like all of us, she will find that there are aspects of her appearance that she simply cannot change.

And, finally, if by some chance your daughter is one of those who wants to look to a surgeon to change her body, help her figure out why. If the reason smacks of self-doubt and desperation, make her re-evaluate and work with her to build a healthier self-concept. She has plenty of time to make changes in her 20s. Emotional and physical wounds she gets at this vulnerable age could be with her forever.

Renee Carey is the managing editor of The Ironton Tribune.