No one wants to have a constant concern about what they look like, what they wear, and what others think of them. Life begins when you are completely comfortable and accepting of yourself. A confident woman radiates beauty, power, and inspiration. These are the healthy attributes that we want to reflect on to our kids. As we previously stated, girls as young as the age of five are starting to learn what the society’s definition of beautiful is. Their minds are being manipulated by these overly provocative cartoons and it’s our jobs as parents to teach them that beauty comes from within. No matter what size, color, or ethnicity you are.
This blog post is dedicated to all parents raising their kids in the 21st century. Body image perception in the media is an ongoing struggle, but the solution begins with you.
The solution starts with you:
- Know the differences between facts and myths about weight, nutrition, and exercise. Knowing the facts will help you reason against any inaccurate ideas that your kids may be thinking about their weight or appearance.
- Promote a healthy relationship with food: Discuss nutrition and why your body needs natural, whole foods to function properly. We need to eat to live, not live to eat.
- Don’t talk negatively about your own body: Hopefully you are comfortable enough in your own skin, but if you are not, keep it to yourself. Your child will feed off of any negative discussions and comments.
- Exercise: Be a role model for regular physical activity! Get physically active with your kids whenever possible.
- Don’t use the word “diet”: If you skip meals, buy prepackaged “diet” food, eat only “fat free” or “lite” foods, avoid “carbs,” then your kids will pick up on it and think that is how they should eat.
How to teach your kids to eat well:
- All foods can be part of healthy eating. There are no “good” or “bad” foods, so try to eat lots of different foods, including fruits, vegetables, and even sweets sometimes.
- Kids and adults who exercise and stay active are healthier and better able to do what they want to do, no matter what they weigh.
- If you are sad or mad or have nothing to do—and you are not really hungry—find something to do other than eating.
- When having a snack try to eat different types. Sometimes raisins might be good, cheese, cookies, carrot sticks or even celery dipped in peanut butter.
Here’s more information on how to be reflect healthy body image on your kids:
A culture is formed by the stories
its children are told.
Be your child’s story teller.
Further reading
Emme,
I love what you are sharing here. We always talk about food in our house as my partner and I are choosing a healthy life style. We have been using a “live it” approach to eating rather than a “diet”. Our daughter has been great about buying into this healthy eating.
We encourage her by telling her to express her own indiviuality through her clothes if she chooses. And she does! I think she takes credit for the introduction of mis matched clothing. LOL
HI Carol,
Good for you to Live It! Don’t fool yourself ( with fake food diet products), Fuel yourself (with nutrient dense foods)! Keep up the good work! Emme
In our house, we talk about healthy eating (although we absolutely have our treats too!) and giving your body the right fuel it needs for the day. The best way to do that is to eat foods without an ingredient label. Think about it - fruits, veggies - no ingredient labels! It is a very difficult thing to do, but we try to be aware of it as much as we can. Also trying not to pass along our own body images to our children - you really hit such an important point. They are listening and watching us even when we think they aren’t!
Our kids are absolutely watching and listening Wendy! Thank you for your comment on Stephanie’s courageous walk.