English Language II

‘Teen toxing’ is the latest craze among Britain’s image-conscious and celebrity-
obsessed teenagers. A recent survey found 5 % of teenage girls have considered having
Botox and staggering 48 % would think about having plastic surgery. ‘Excessive Botox
can cause facial weakness or paralysis, and double vision,’ says one doctor. ‘Teenagers
don’t need it. It won’t keep you looking young.’ ‘It’s a question of self-esteem,’
commented a parenting expert. ‘Surgery isn’t the answer, and we can boost self-
confidence without it.’ ‘It’s a message all parents should be giving to their kids. But
sadly, teen toxing fans would rather listen to the stars.

To the editor
I felt amazed by your article on Teen Toxing, and I totally agree with those parents’
opinions on the article. But as a mother of two daughters, that are surprisingly obsessed
with this new trend, I can relate that it’s not as easy as they mention to try to convince
teenage girls that they are perfect just the way they are and that they don’t need
anything extra to be or feel pretties.
Firstly, I think that professional psychological support is a must in our children's lives,
although in some cases parents think that they can help their children by themselves it is
certain that they can’t. It’s been proved that it’s not enough to tell young people to have
high self-esteem and that they must accept themselves as they are. What’s more, loving
ourselves is a long process that requires help, support, time, dedication, and guidance
from both, professionals and adults.
Secondly, social media is one of the biggest obstacles when it comes to fighting against
new fashion. For example, there are hundreds of celebrities that publish several
photographs or videos of themselves getting a new piercing or tattoo, and of course a
plastic surgery, too. I think that a possible solution to this trouble would be establishing
a limit of time per day for our teenagers on the use of social networks and technological
devices, so they won’t feel influenced by famous people. Moreover, we should consider
managing whom our children follow on social media, thereby it would help us to select
the most proper content for their age.
To conclude, despite there are lot of resources that we could use, I think that
professional leadership and the fact of creating boundaries on adolescents are two of the
most powerful tools that we can use to prevent children’s mental health problems, such
as personality disorder, low self-esteem, and depression, among others.
Yours faithfully

Maldonado, Andrea Pamela