Good Place For Teenagers?

[Rooby]

Hi, I am trying to establish whether moving back to Argentina would be a good idea with my family.
I used to live in Argentina around 15 years ago and my daughter was born there (partner is Argentine, I am from UK). We left for a number of reasons, one of which was that I was concerned about the obsession with appearance and body image that seemed to affect almost every Argentine woman I met and high levels of anorexia. Now we are considering for various reasons moving back, but my daughter is at the worst age from this point of view - she will be 13 next year. What I want to know is - have things improved? Is this still a big issue for young women? If she attended an international school like Lincoln, would she be 'shielded' from it? Your thoughts and experiences would be very welcome. Many thanks.

 

[nikad]

Hi, I am trying to establish whether moving back to Argentina would be a good idea with my family.
I used to live in Argentina around 15 years ago and my daughter was born there (partner is Argentine, I am from UK). We left for a number of reasons, one of which was that I was concerned about the obsession with appearance and body image that seemed to affect almost every Argentine woman I met and high levels of anorexia. Now we are considering for various reasons moving back, but my daughter is at the worst age from this point of view - she will be 13 next year. What I want to know is - have things improved? Is this still a big issue for young women? If she attended an international school like Lincoln, would she be 'shielded' from it? Your thoughts and experiences would be very welcome. Many thanks.

The ideas about image, weight , etc are still the same. I never thought it was such a big deal. To be honest, I was never skinny ( neither obese ) and never had any issues.

 

[Ceviche]

almost every Argentine woman I met and high levels of anorexia.

Its amazing that women here love to be skinny.

And if one travels to Colombia or Venezuela, the women there love to be voluptuous!

 

[RodalfoWalsh]

High levels of anorexia. I've never noticed that. I've noticed lots of skinny people but not that many who are anorexic skinny.

 

[mikic007]

To see anorexia on the street has to be really bad, sometimes is not easy to differ skinny or anorexic. But according to some professionals here, it's quite spreaded. Don't know how much of this can be influenced to someone "narmally" raised, since it's usually broader psychological problem, but for sure doesn't help environment obsessed with low weight. I don't know if I ever saw so many skinny girls without doing any sport as here.

Anyway, you shouldn't be paranoid about it, if there isn't any sign, because maybe your daughter doesn't have and will not have any problem like that...

 

[nativexpat]

I had the same fears when I moved back here... Body obsession is horrible in Arg and most people don't realize it. It has gotten worse with Instagram and social networks I believe.

So, like Nikad said, nothing has changed. But if your daughter has been raised by sensible, critical people and has a positive self image, she will be ok. You should not worry if you are going to be hanging out with the international crowd. It is just the barrio- Tinelly mentality and she'll know how to tell things appart (my daughter came here at 6, she is 13 now and she can tell, despite heavy influences at school).

On the other hand, children have become much more accepting of differences compared with my growing up here in the 80s. I had a couple friends who hated summer because they had to stay indoors (they thought they were too fat to wear a swimsuit). I don't see that happening now.

Good luck!

 

[citygirl]

My Ar niece just turned 16 and I've definitely noticed her getting more concerned with her weight. She was never heavy but had the normal baby fat but now she's gotten really skinny. N1 sample but I definitely notice it amongst her/her friends.

What's much harder for me to accept (as an extranjera) is seeing these kids dressed up and going out to clubs until all hours of the morning. It starts around 13 with the matinees and by 15-16, they can easily be out until 4 or 5 in the morning. It terrifies me to think about my kids doing that when they're older. It's not about the drinking/partying so much as potentially having young girls in clubs with (drunk) older men.

 

[camberiu]

If teenage anorexia is the big issue facing girls here, I think many parents in Brazil would be very envious if they knew about it.
I for one would hate to have a teenage girl growing up in Brazil right now.
When you put things in perspective, teenage anorexia ain't that bad.

 

[Girino]

I never thought they were really obsessed about weight here. I simply thought they were just poorer and will less junk food options available. Plus women here are too short to be models, so what's the point in being uber-thin?! Then I started wondering: how can they be so thin if they eat only empanadas, pizza, milanesa, facturas, dulce de leche and drink sugary drinks? So I asked around and they all replied the girls are very body image conscious (which translates in "they are obsessed" in my language).

My SIL is anorexic, and anorexia is a state of the mind One not necessarily has to be literally skin and bones. Maybe from outside you just see some bones, or lack of menstruation, or the skin drying up. It is not always striking as "oh yeah, he/she must be anorexic!" I think I read that 1/3 eventually die of anorexia and related diseases (heart wall thins, etc).

Personally, I didn't believe she was sick until once someone mentioned her weight at the table and she got all crazed out, started yelling and closed herself in the bathroom. She is 35, not 15. I had never seen someone getting crazy over so little - I was appalled. Her family did not give it too much weight because this has been going on for a decade... Yeah, I had noticed that she was very fussy about food, she talked A LOT about what she bought or cooked, but when served, she simply smeared the food over the plate without actually eating it. She lives on candies and Coca Light. For example, at dinner she would eat *half* a empanada, but with lot of wine.

Her psych said the more you talk about her issue, the more she would get fussy about it. However, he also said this is also a mean to attract attention over herself.
(For the record, her condition started before she returned to Argentina).

I had a friend once who refused to eat in public. When at the university, he simply went on without food from 6.30 when he left home to 20 pm when he got back. We went to a concert once and it was natural for me to grab a bite before heading in, and I asked him if he wanted something (I forgot about his "issue"). Of course, he said no and I felt bad because I forgot about his condition. That is to say that it was not evident.
I had another friend who in high school refused to eat solid food for a year. Basically, his mother had to prep him baby food. Then he switched back to normal.

 

[johnw100]

Think teenagers have it hard it many countries but have to say I think Television , which is the main influence to the majority , has probably gotten worse in the last 10 years here depicting women. I`ve been coming here for 15 years, lived here for the last 3 or so. I try and avoid watching TV here but my wife watches and everytime I see Marcelo Tinelli on something it usually involves some scantly clad bimbo gyrating her stuff on the screen and this is in the middle of the day,not just late night. You`ll also see the previous nights Baliando por un sueno clips being show on the news, even though its billed as late night adult entertainment. Just a less nude version of it.
The tv here just seems to be about ratings, screw any morals. A pretty ex-girlfriend of some celebrity will get more air time hear than any international news story. International jet disappears, na we`ll put on some footballers cheating ex-girlfriend on the main headlines and then show a slideshow of 5 photos of her for the next 10 minutes showing various forms of swim wear or revealing clothing.

I pretty much band tv in our house with our kids apart from 2 "kids" channels. A few weeks ago I had my 4 year old in tears because the cartoon he was watching broke for an advert in the afternoon and they showed a trailer for a film showing someone attacking and attempting to stab a woman. Can you imagine if that happened in the UK, I was fuming. And they wonder why domestic violence is so high in this country.