Parenting
Drop the diet chat for better body image W e all want our children to be happy and healthy as they traverse adolescence and grow into young adults. However this time of life is also a minefield of social media, model mania, diet drivel and friend pressure. As parents, how do we guide our sons and daughters through this to give them a happy and healthy body image for now and for their future?
It’s a battle we have to start fighting because the statistics are startling. Last year close to 40% of Queensland girls aged 15 to 19 said they felt “extremely” or “very concerned” about their body image compared to only 12% of teenage boys (Mission Australia, 2014). With body dissatisfaction linked to low self-esteem and depression, as well as one of the strongest risk factors for developing an eating disorder, these numbers are sobering.
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Awareness begins before adolescence
generally have the most influence over how her child feels about their body.
Given the major physical changes taking place in the adolescent body, it is no surprise that this is when young people focus on and fret so much about their looks. Although considered an adolescent issue, body dissatisfaction and dieting awareness have actually been shown to develop in children as young as six. Around this age there is evidence that children can begin to feel concerned about their weight and shape and desire a thinner body. Thus the development of a healthy body image begins early, with the main contributors being parents, peers and the media.
Comments from a mother about her daughters weight, or even subtle attempts to encourage weight control, such as “are you sure you want to eat that?” have been revealed as a very strong predictor of body dissatisfaction in both adolescent and primary school aged girls. A little girl worships her mother and thinks she is beautiful, so it can be devastating to witness negative and demeaning comments about her mum’s body. Moreover, as many girls share the same build as their mothers, hearing these invites her to believe these are also faults in her own body.
But my mum said… While both parents have an impact on their children’s developing body image, mothers
Your Local Families Magazine – Brisbane Issue 10 - June/July 2015
‘Fat talk’, those conversations women have discussing weight, offering compliments or speaking negatively about their own weight,