“Jessica! Time for supper!” I yelled upstairs. Jessica wouldn’t come down. Finally, after ten minutes, she came and sat at the table in front of her food. No matter how hard I tried, she wouldn’t eat anything. After a while I got the courage to ask her why she wouldn’t eat her supper. She responded, “I am too fat.” I was shocked to hear this from a fifth-grader who was only ten years old and was closer to being underweight than overweight. She continued to tell me that a lot of her friends didn’t eat much, because they thought they were fat as well.

More young girls are developing eating disorders. Many of these girls are at a healthy weight or even underweight. Why is this happening to our society, and what is the cause of this? Is pressure from the media or friends a main cause? Everyday people are exposed to advertisements, television shows, and magazines that show thin people and are conveying the message that thin people are prettier and happier. This could pose a problem when young girls look to these women as role models. Lots of girls are also ridiculed or pressured by their peers. Are these lowering the self-esteem of young girls and therefore causing them to develop eating disorders?

As I brought lunch to my brother one day, I noticed a group of elementary school girls sitting at a table. I asked my brother why they weren’t eating and he commented that they never ate lunch because they didn’t want to get fat. I was appalled! Why, especially at this age, would someone be obsessed with his or her weight? I began to give this issue more thought, and it greatly concerned me.

I began to notice things in the media, which triggered me to continuously wonder about this issue. Some magazines, I noticed, had articles on how important a good self-esteem was, but then also contained articles on how to lose weight. These articles also pictured thin women portrayed as being beautiful because they were thin. I would also hear stories of young children who were anorexic, a person who refuses to eat, and bulimic, a person who consumes large amounts of food and afterwards use laxatives or force themselves to vomit.

Not many people realize that eating disorders are a problem with children of such a young age. Parents should know of this problem and be aware of the symptoms. Hopefully, more will be done to study the causes of this. Once a cause is discovered, we may figure out a way to stop this disorder from plaguing our children.

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