Positive body image matters more than ever before! In a society that constantly fixates on physical appearance, it’s more important than ever to help children cultivate a healthy perspective about their bodies. After all, children are constantly bombarded with incomplete and sometimes contradictory ideas about what their bodies should look like from various sources, such as peers, family, and even the media.
Understanding Body Image and Its Importance
Body image comprises the thoughts and feelings, the attitudes and perceptions about one’s own body. The study of body image focuses on the differences between how individuals perceive their bodies and how others see them (objective body size). Additionally, research investigates the gaps between a person’s ideal body image—how they think their body should look and their perceived body image, which is their current perception of their body. This exploration helps illuminate the complex factors influencing body image and self-esteem. However, body image is much more than a matter of what we see in the mirror or feel in our bodies.
Children develop a body image during their social encounters with people around them. Having a positive body image as a child is extremely important to mental health and overall well-being, and it is a predictor of healthier eating habits and better relationships with peers.
On the other hand, a dysphoric body image can cause eating disorders, low self-esteem, and mental illnesses, so a positive body image in a child can help them grow as a confident and secure adult.
The Role of Media and Society
Children are exposed to so many images and messages about beauty and body standards from the media, such as television, social media, and advertising, and it’s overwhelming. Many of these messages are unrealistic and idealized, in the sense that they are not ‘typical’ and may not be achievable. In this way, the media can ‘sell’ a myth of what a person should look like that can distort children’s perceptions of what’s normal. Media exposure can perpetuate both negative stereotypes and body dissatisfaction.
Combating these effects, parents and caregivers can actively engage children regarding media literacy. Ground the images the children are observing in text, remind them that media are a call to action, and help them become media creators in some way (eg, through stick-figure drawings). Remind children that images are digitally altered, which is not what bodies look like. Discuss chasing health, not bodies or weight. Let children know that the real world is filled with lots of diverse bodies and faces.
Building Self-Esteem Through Positive Reinforcement
The best thing is to be positive with them and reinforce their positive traits. Praise a child for their kindness, intelligence, curiosity, contagious laugh, pixie-like hair, or shiny eyes, for example. Reinforce everything but looks.
- Promote Self-Acceptance: Teach children to value themselves for who they are rather than how they look. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses, and self-worth comes from within.
- Model Positive Behaviour: Children learn by watching the behaviors of the adults around them. Demonstrate a positive body image and healthy self-talk. Don’t disparage your own body, or anyone else’s.
- Celebrate diversity: Give children exposure to bodies, cultures, and appearances through books, media, and personal experiences. Teach them that beauty is diverse, and that they – despite their unique differences – are beautiful too.
Encouraging Healthy Habits
Positive body image is closely linked to healthy habits, so instead of talking about appearance, emphasize health. Talk more about how she can nourish her body with healthy foods and exercise habits.
- Promote Healthful Eating: Teach children to use balanced eating as a means to healthy, vibrant energy. Emphasize nutritious food choices for growth and health – not for weight control.
- Promote Physical Activity: Fit exercise into a child’s schedule, but try to make it into sport or other activities to enjoy. Frame exercise as an enjoyable pursuit that will maintain good health (but don’t frame it as a way to reshape the body).
- No Diet Talk: Don’t talk about dieting, weight loss, or body size in the presence of children. Instead, promote healthy eating and physical activity as ways to feel good.
Building Emotional Resilience
Emotional resiliency is a big part of this. They want to help children take charge of their thoughts and emotions, so they can deal with negativity and the pressures of society.
Keep the lines of communication open by creating a space in which your children feel invited to talk about how they’re feeling, or what bothers them. Listen to what they have to say, and let them know that you understand. If you can, let your children know that it’s okay to feel the way they’re feeling, especially if their difficulty pertains to body image.
- Teach Coping Strategies: Use games, demonstrations, or creative arts to help children learn how to manage stress and negative feelings – through techniques such as mindfulness, deep breathing, or journaling. One way to help parents of anxious children create an emotional distance when things get out of hand is by staying calm, validating their child’s emotions, and asking open-ended questions.
- Develop Positive Self-Talk: Encourage kids to practice having a positive inner voice. Praise their accomplishments and, if possible, promote body appreciation. Ask them to consider alternate responses to negative thoughts they have about their bodies – like ‘I’m clumsy’ – and help them come up with positive affirmations, such as ‘I’m strong’ and ‘I’m fast.’
Creating a Supportive Environment
Parents and teachers should adopt a positive attitude towards young people’s bodies, and create a home and school environment in which most kids can love their bodies.
- Make Body Positivity Core: Ask educators to make body positivity and self-esteem an important subject in curricula. Encourage actions and discussions that promote inclusivity and diversity in schools.
- Create a Positive Home Environment: Make sure the home environment fosters a positive body image – promote respect, kindness, love, and like the body. Avoid comparisons to brothers or sisters or other children.
If the child is developing a serious body image trauma or an eating disorder, he or she should see a counselor or therapist. Early intervention is more likely to avoid worse problems, and the child will get the help they need.
However encouraging a positive body image in children is a rich and multilayered affair that necessitates careful attention to regard, reflection, and response. Parents, educators, and caregivers can help develop kids’ self-esteem and positive regard, along with healthy independent habits, including those related to nutrition and exercise. By providing an atmosphere rich with kindness, patience, and trust, we can help equip children early on to weather the storms of their bodies and souls – and, as they become adolescents and young adults, to enter their world with a strong sense of self, a curious spirit, and courage to move forward into a new, perhaps frightening, unknown.
To focus on the mental and emotional health of our children, and to actively work against the forces that lead to a negative self-image, should help ensure that growing up into a self-loving person takes precedence over seeking the love of others by chasing after an idealized physical appearance.
