A Child's Mind

Once upon a time, teenagers listened to what their parents told them to do. As crazy as this thought seems, it actually has some truth. Very often, teenagers and children will follow and believe whoever they think has authority and experience in a particular area, generally their parents. While teens are stereotyped as "rebellious", stats shows that "7 in 10 teens (71%) say their social and political ideology is about the same as mom and dad's." (Lyons). The idea that kids and young teens are easily influenced by authoritative figures and are more susceptible to bandwagon is a generally accepted truth by just about everyone, and in this day and age, using rhetoric to convince children to buy a certain product or follow a certain political party is commonplace. Children have been sought out by countless people: Businessmen, Politicians, and even Jesus. Today, it seems like the world is a sort of war to gain the support of children between battling corporations and politicians, as after all, in the words of Nelson Mandela, "[Children] are our future". Great Britain believes this has gotten so out of hand, that they have placed tight restrictions on advertising to kids; they outlaw product placement in children's TV shows and programs altogether. "Our Barbies, Ourselves", by Emily Prager, highlights the destructive effects of letting kids play with toys that promote an unrealistic idea of beauty, because the kids could grow up "brainwashed" by impossible beauty standards. Prager jokes at the fact that she, "never married, simply because [she couldn't] find a man who looks as good in clam diggers as Ken, " A funny statement that is actually rooted in truth (Prager 354). Because she spent a large part of her childhood playing with Barbies, she became convinced that the ideal man must look like Ken, and is now unable to find anyone who she considers attractive because her standards have been set so high that finding someone attractive is harder to find than pink elephants.

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