Dannielle Miller, a Kellyville mother of two, says research shows that girls at primary school are affected by image and self-esteem.

``What we have is a generation of young girls who no longer get to enjoy childhood,'' Ms Miller said.

``Researchers are telling us that adult-like problems are now confronting young boys and girls who only have childlike strategies to fall back on to deal with these issues.''

Ms Miller, who devised the Enlighten Education in-school workshops to give teenage girls inspiration and self-esteem, has been asked to offer her program to younger girls.

``Schools are becoming proactive and saying we want to work with our primary-aged girls to develop proactive behaviours and resilience so they can respond intelligently to the often damaging images they are presented with in the popular

culture and the media.''

Ms Miller said girls were developing physically much earlier.

``Generally the average age of menstruation is now 10,'' she said.

``By the time they are in year 6, the vast majority of young girls will well and truly hit puberty.

``They're physically developing and society is telling them that as young women they need to be perfect.

``Perception today embraces successful at school, popular but, above all, thin, beautiful and sexually desirable.

``It's always easy to parent bash and complain about mothers but it's very difficult for mothers if they are caught up in the same vortex their daughter is in.

``Mothers will often give their daughters very mixed messages.

``They'll say on the one hand, `Sweetheart, you're beautiful the way you are', and on the other hand, `Does my bum look big in this?'

``Girls look to their mothers for role models and what they sometimes see is dieting, unhappiness with their image and this eternal quest for youthful perfection.''