She is 15 years old. She attends an all girls private school in London. She had a severe bout and a relapse of an eating disorder in the recent past. Her father is now unwilling to send his younger daughter to that school because in addition to eating disorders a number of other mental illnesses seem to be rife there.
As per this article from The Guardian a year ago, the incidence of eating disorders had gone up by 8% in the preceding year.
At present about 1.6 million people in the UK suffer with eating disorders of which 89% are females.
Adding to the problem are ‘pro-ana’ sites that are very influential in supporting the abnormal eating patterns in young people. They advocate diets of just 400-500 calories per day and champion “thinspiration”. Images of celebrities such as Victoria Beckham and Keira Knightley are used to idealise a certain look. We only have to look at any average celebrity or women’s magazine to know the degree of obsession with body image we have as a society.
As parents what do we want for our kids? To be happy, confident, content, fulfilled, sociable, healthy, loving and kind.
What do schools teach them? To ‘achieve’, ‘conform’ and ‘succeed’.
Well-being should be taught at schools. Prevention of mental illness should have a place in the school curriculum. The prevalence of mental illness (especially depression) in young people is shockingly high world-wide – 10 times more than it was 50 years ago. Average age of onset then was around the age of 30 years and now it is below 15 years of age. It is shocking to see how big the problem is and how much of it is unrecognised and untreated.
We need to face the fact that something that we are doing as a society, as parents and as educators is making our children ill.
kidsaregifts 