Reading Time: 3 minutes

“I am the shortest in the class”

“I am too thin”

“My hair are curly”

“If only I were tall/short/had straight or curly hair/smaller nose/fairer skin colour, I’d be happy”

Does any of this sound familiar?

We often hear our children making these and many such remarks about their bodies.

Body image is the way you feel about your body. Children’s body image can be influenced by their own feelings and by the reactions of those around them.

Having a healthy body image makes children feel good about their bodies.

They feel happy with how they look, how their body grows and what their body can do. Having a good body image helps kids feel confident and adds to their self-esteem.

Children with negative body image can become fixated on trying to change their body shape/attribute. This can have a range of negative effects like disordered eating, compulsive exercise, depression, anxiety and low self-esteem. Social interactions, relationships, mood and activity choices can be seriously affected by low self-esteem. Feeling embarrassed about physical appearance can cause children to decrease social interactions. This can lead to feelings of loneliness and isolation and increases fear of rejection, resulting into lowered self-image. 

Body image concerns start earlier than you think; even pre-schoolers learn that the society judges people by how they look.

Ideas and habits formed young last a lifetime.

Children as young as 5 express dissatisfaction with their bodies.

How can you help your child?

Be a good role model

You are the most influential role model in your child’s life. Parents can foster positive body image and self-esteem in their children in many ways. Before helping your child, it is important to understand your own attitude towards food, exercise and your body. As a parent, what messages are you sending?

• Are you dissatisfied with your shape, size, and weight? Do you talk about this?
• Are you always on, or going on, a diet?
• Do you express guilt when you eat certain foods?
• Do you make negative comments over the way other people look?

A few suggestions to build positive body image:

• Emphasis on health not weight. Be active and eat well for health and not size.
• Avoid dieting and do not encourage your child to diet either. Dieting can be dangerous as it may lead to dehydration, weakness, fatigue, nausea, headaches and constipation, and can cause vitamin and mineral deficiency. It is also a key risk factor in developing an eating disorder.. Talk to your child about the dangers of dieting and promote healthy eating habit.

• Bear in mind the impact of negative body talk around your children, about your own body or other people’s. Watch your comments on other people’s bodies and appearance. Work on modelling a healthy acceptance of your own body shape.
• Do not emphasis on physical appearances or your child will too. Rather, try to talk to your child about all the different aspects that make up a person, such as personality, skills and outlook on life.

Get involved

   You have a lot of power to shape their attitudes, values and behaviour.

• Tune in to kid’s lives (ask about their feelings, friends and school). Teasing about physical appearance is a known risk factor for negative body image. If your child is being teased, contact the school immediately.

• Peer pressure can contribute to poor body image if the peer group is concerned with physical appearance and/or thinness. Talk to your child and his/her friends regarding the same.
• Nurture a positive self-image

Place less emphasis on your child’s appearance and more on their abilities and skills. Encourage activities that make your child feel good about themselves and that don’t focus on their appearance.

• Step in when kids need support. Talk to your child when you observe sudden change in their eating habits, any weight gain/loss, compulsive exercising or restricted social interaction.

Immunize your child

Media is influential – Unrealistic, sexualized and stereotypical images and messages about bodies and gender is rampant on the media your child consumes.

Children believe what they see. If all your child sees are unrealistic body types, he/she will come to believe they are ideal.

• Choose quality media with diverse characters.
• Question assumption about appearance.
• Challenge stereotypes about gender, body types and abilities.

Pay attention to your son, too.

Boys have issues with body image too.

Their own body concerns and risky behaviour can go unnoticed.

They also play a vital role in supporting healthy attitudes among girls.

Positive body image occurs when a child is able to:

Accept, appreciate and respect their body.

There is no right or wrong when it comes to weight, shape, size or appearance. Learning to accept your body shape is a crucial step towards positive body image. Each individual is special and unique in their own ways. We all have qualities different from each other and we must teach our children to appreciate the uniqueness in each person.